Articles by Jessica Freeman-Slade
January 26, 2012
So, Nu?: Shalom Auslander’s Hope: A Tragedy 3
And therein lies the brilliance of Auslander’s novel: Hope: A Tragedy is about the fact that you can’t escape your own legacy, no matter how great your desire for a better world.
July 13, 2011
To Jobs that Pay the Rent: Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar 1
What we do with our time is an essential expression of who we are and who we hope to be. The multitudes of working life are beautifully chronicled in this anthology of short stories edited by Richard Ford.
May 19, 2011
Working the Wound: Meghan O’Rourke’s The Long Goodbye 1
I read this book in batches, putting it out of my reach until I could bring myself to pick it up again. I ran scared from this book, not because I didn’t think it would be worth reading, but because when I read it, I unraveled.
April 27, 2011
The Ice Storm: Meg Wolitzer’s The Uncoupling 2
Discovering lust is naturally dramatic in any story, and writers from D.H. Lawrence to Danielle Steele have discovered all the tricks to make our hearts race and palms sweat. But how do you write about desire’s disappearance?
March 29, 2011
Putting It Together: Geoff Dyer’s Otherwise Known as the Human Condition 5
Like a dragonfly hovering above the surface of a pond, Dyer’s criticism skims across a subject rather than diving in. Yet not every critic can incite so many ripples with such a light touch, and not every critic can show such tremendous intelligence while leaving things slighted.
February 18, 2011
“I Wanna Be Like You” Benjamin Hale’s The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore 2
Who gets to be human? To what end evolution? What do education, language, sophistication portend? Can an animal learn emotional maturity the way they learn circus tricks? What aspects of humanity can—and cannot—be taught?
