books | David F. Cooper

Book review: The Journal of Albion Midnight by Kenneth Patchen

June 6, 2017

“like a sonnet whose beautiful lines are undermined by its flawed argument.” — from my review of The Journal of Albion Midnight in New York Journal of Books

2 book reviews: God’s Ear by Rhoda Lerman & Sonora by Hannah Lillith Assadi

April 5, 2017

Lerman’s sense of humor has been compared to that of Philip Roth (who is three years her senior), but in God’s Ear the humor also employs the traditional Jewish irony and Eastern European Jewish folklore of Isaac Bashevis Singer, especially his short stories. Most of Lerman’s Hasidic folktales in God’s Ear are too long to quote, but the following […]

Two book reviews: A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman & Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

March 1, 2017

“At first glance Israeli novelist David Grossman’s new novel, A Horse Walks into a Bar, which as the title suggests recounts a stand-up comedian’s performance one evening at a night club in the coastal city Netanya, appears to be a complete change in tone and direction from his previous two fiction books To the End […]

Book review: The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping by Aharon Appelfeld

February 9, 2017

“With its universal themes of healing, recovery, creativity, and finding one’s vocation The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping should engage the wide readership Appelfeld’s prose deserves. Readers may want to buy extra copies and donate them to VA hospitals.” — from my review in New York Journal of Books.

Book review: Recitation by Bae Suah

January 25, 2017

“After two novellas translated into English (Nowhere to be Found, 2015 and A Greater Music, 2016, the latter reviewed in NYJB) South Korean post-modernist fiction writer Bae Suah and British translator Deborah Smith—who also translated A Greater Music and two novels by Han Kang (The Vegetarian and Human Acts)—return with an even more ambitious full […]

Book review: Judas by Amos Oz

November 27, 2016

“For Oz’s fans and liberal Zionist fiction readers Judas is a required text whose writing is its own reward.” — from my review of in New York Journal of Books I devote more of my review to the novel’s historical background and what I infer is its contemporary political message, and consequently less to its […]

Book review: A Greater Music by Bae Suah

October 20, 2016

“Bae’s prose alternates between detailed descriptions of everyday life and ruminative passages on music, ideas, and her character’s mental state. The late American poet William Matthews once described his taste in literature as a preference for prosy poetry and poetic prose. A Greater Music exemplifies the latter category; it requires and amply rewards rereading.” — […]