Category: Novella

Book Review, Classic, European Literature, featured, Fiction, Film, French, French Literature, Noir, Novella

Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

On May 8, 1945, the day Nazi Germany surrendered, the French government began a massacre of Muslim nationalists in Algeria that ended with the deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 civilians. There were soldiers who fought for France in Germany who returned to Algeria only to find the families dead, and their homes destroyed. Not something I expected to learn in a gritty, noir detective novel … Continue reading Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

james b chester
American Fiction, Book Review, Classic, Fiction, Novella

May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald

May first, 1919. New York City. The first World War has ended. Soldiers of all ranks are returning home via a stop in the big city. Sons of privilege, Yale students all, hold a party in a hotel not too far from a socialist workers printshop and hall. Chaos ensues. Our two main characters, former college pals, meet before the big night. Gordon and Phillip. … Continue reading May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Book Review, French Literature, Noir, Novella, Translation

The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon for Novellas in November 2022

At 144 pages The Madman of Bergerac just fits the 150-page definition of a novella over at the Novellas in November reading challenge. It was first published in 1932 which makes it old and therefore a classic which is the challenge category for this week. It’s also a fun read for fans of Inspector Maigret. I’m not sure I’d send it along to anyone else. … Continue reading The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon for Novellas in November 2022

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Book Review, featured, Fiction, Irish Literature, Novel, Novella, Rants, Uncategorized

I Almost Cried Three Times. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Small things can contain worlds. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is literally small. 114 pages of a fairly large font, you’d be right to call this a novella. I read it cover to cover in a sitting. The lives Ms. Keegan portrays here are also small. The central character, Bill Furlong, goes about his days running the small coal distributor that keeps his … Continue reading I Almost Cried Three Times. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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Book Review, Classic, English Literature, European Literature, Novella

Best Party Ever!! The Vampyre by John Polidori

In 1816 Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont and John Polidori spend a stormy week together in a villa near Lake Geneva, a party for the ages as they say. Stuck inside due to unseasonal rains and they pass their time together by telling each other scary stories. There was probably some drug-taking involved and everybody was basically lusting after everybody else but … Continue reading Best Party Ever!! The Vampyre by John Polidori

james b chester
Classic, Fiction, Novella, Russian Literature, Translation

My Life by Anton Chekov

Sometimes it can really help to have a professor guide your reading. This was one of those times.  I was well over halfway through Anton Chekhov’s novella My Life translated by Constance Garnett before I could decide just how satirical it was. To be honest before I could decide if it satirical or not. There is a lot of Russian literature from Mr. Chekhov’s day dealing with the … Continue reading My Life by Anton Chekov

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American Fiction, Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction, Non-fiction, Novella, Thriller, Uncategorized

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle is a good time. If I say that it’s just a good read, does that do it a disservice? Do you think I mean to say that it’s not really a great book with something to say? Is calling a book simply a good read marking it down a bit in your estimation? In mine? I don’t mean … Continue reading The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

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American Fiction, Book Review, Classic, Fantasy, Fiction, Novella, Science Fiction, Short Story, Uncategorized

Arrival by Ted Chiang

  There is some damn fine writing in Ted Chiang’s volume of short stories Arrival originally published as Stories of Your Life and Others. So much than the next time you hear someone say that fantasy and science fiction tend to be badly written, you should direct them to any of Ted Chiang’s stories. They may not be your cup of tea, but they are all very well … Continue reading Arrival by Ted Chiang

james b chester
Book Review, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Novella, Translation

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

I realize my sample size is basically two, but what is it about Japanese writers and cats? If you’re a fan of Haruki Murakami, then you know his interest in cats. They are such a strong presence in his novel The Wind-up Bird that they cast something of a shadow on the rest of his writing.  Do all his books feature a cat? No? The Guest … Continue reading The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

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Book Review, Classic, English Literature, Fiction, Novella, Science Fiction

No Blade of Grass by John Christopher

There world has been coming to an end since 1956. There has been an explosion of dystopian futures of late.  If you wandered around any Scholastic Book Faire this year, you saw that just about one out of ever four titles in the fiction section featured some kind of horrific future. It’s oddly comforting to realize that this is really nothing new. The end of … Continue reading No Blade of Grass by John Christopher

james b chester
American Fiction, Book Review, Fiction, Novella

The Death of the Author by Gilbert Adair

In the mid-twentieth century the author died.  At least as far as many university English departments were concerned. After critic/scholar Roland Barthes published his essay “The Death of the Author,”  whatever the author intended ceased to be of interest to a critical establishment determined to study the text and how it worked devoid of any reference to the author who created it. I’m oversimplifying an … Continue reading The Death of the Author by Gilbert Adair

james b chester
American Fiction, Book Review, Classic, Fiction, Novella, Uncategorized, Western

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Sometimes it’s very hard to pin down why you love a book. Denis Johnson’s very short novella, I found it on a list of brilliant books you can read in a day, tells the story of an abbreviated life.  Robert Grainier is a day laborer in the American West circa 1910.  He never amounts to much.  There isn’t much to tell about his life.  He … Continue reading Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

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