Book Reviews

Artists Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá — themselves twins — have turned Brazilian author Milton Hatoum's family drama The Brothers into a deftly-shaded graphic novel, full of compelling imagery.

Eli Horowitz's surreal story, told via smartphone app and two separate book editions, follows a sad-sack circus performer who accidentally falls afoul of his oppressive dystopian government.

Deeanne Gist's Tiffany Girl blends a charming romance with an overlooked bit of history — the women recruited by Louis Comfort Tiffany to complete his stained glass chapel at the 1893 World's Fair.

Oscar Hijuelos' posthumously published novel puts fictional flesh on the real-life friendship between Mark Twain and the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Critic Jason Sheehan calls it a "great tale."

Washington D.C. punk legend Ian Svenonius veers from anarchist tirade to Swiftian satire in this new essay collection, which takes aim at tipping, Ikea, censorship, music and yes, NPR too.

Adam Christopher's sci-fi noir follows robotic hit man Raymond Electromatic through a vividly evoked 1960s Los Angeles. Critic Jason Heller says the book hits exactly the right tone and rhythm.

Umberto Eco sends up the corrupt, pandering world of 1990's Italian journalism in his latest bovel — but critic Jason Sheehan says Numero Zero is a potboiler that never really boils.

The French writer Pascal Garnier, who died in 2010, wrote more than 30 children's books, but he's best known for a series of acclaimed novels. Critic John Powers reviews the newly translated Boxes.

Author Daniel Alarcón's new graphic novel is adapted from a short story about a young Peruvian journalist who discovers strange links between his father and the impoverished street clowns of Lima.

Riot grrrl legend Carrie Brownstein's excellent new memoir takes readers from her difficult childhood to the rise and fall (and rise again) of her band Sleater-Kinney, which she says saved her life.