Books - Quillette

Michael J. Fox in Bright Lights, Big City, in a suit, at a restaurant, talking to an older man, holding wine.

‘Bright Lights, Big City’ at Forty

Jay McInerney’s debut novel was the first work of fiction to explore yuppie culture, and its success changed American publishing.

Kevin Mims

6 Nov 2024 · 16 min read

Lale Gül is a beautiful woman in her late 20s or early 30s with long black hair and a middle eastern appearance.

Reading Nietzsche in Amsterdam

Lale Gül’s autobiographical novel about a young Muslim woman living in the Netherlands has led to death threats and ostracism. But it is a work of admirable intelligence and courage.

Brad Strotten

25 Oct 2024 · 7 min read

Tales of Creation and Adaptation

The journey of two novels from mind to page to silver screen.

Allan Stratton

14 Oct 2024 · 22 min read

Black and white photo of a replica of an early steam-powered locomotive, on train tracks, against a blank wall.

Forging Early America’s Northeastern Backbone

In a new book, David Alff traces the origins of the railway line that joined Boston to Washington, D.C., transforming a young nation in the process.

Jonathan Kay

29 Aug 2024 · 18 min read

America’s Last Great Political Novel

In anticipation of the Democrats’ Convention in Chicago, a look back at Joe Klein’s splendid 1996 novel ‘Primary Colors’—a fascinating snapshot of Democratic Party politics at the end of the 20th century.

Kevin Mims

6 Aug 2024 · 22 min read

Vincent Price in a black and white film still, holding a wooden object, with a dining table in the background

Abiding Legends

Richard Matheson, George R. Stewart, and the birth of the Calipocalypse.

Kevin Mims

9 Jul 2024 · 23 min read

France’s Founding Fathers: A Review of ‘House of Lilies’

In a new book, Justine Firnhaber-Baker tells the story of the Capetian dynasty (987–1328), whose rulers stitched a set of medieval duchies and counties into a single kingdom.

Charlotte Allen

26 Jun 2024 · 20 min read

A still from The Chocolate War. 4 boys in coats stand on the roadside.

Too Much Chocolate

Fifty years of Robert Cormier’s “classic” young-adult novel is more than enough.

Kevin Mims

13 Jun 2024 · 9 min read

A black & white photo of young Orwell with a Hitler moustache & a USSR May Day poster of a young couple holding a red flag.

George Orwell’s Error

Had he lived long enough to witness the fruits of liberal capitalism, perhaps Orwell would finally have accepted the failure of socialism.

Christopher J. Snowdon

6 Jun 2024 · 13 min read

Salman Rushdie on stage, holding a copy of his book, Knife.

Unbowed but Gravely Wounded

Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, ‘Knife,’ describes the assassination attempt its author survived and offers a moving contemplation of mortality.

Paul Berman

3 Jun 2024 · 15 min read

Less Than Half ‘A Man in Full’

One of US television’s most experienced and talented writers has made a mess of Tom Wolfe’s second novel.

Kevin Mims

13 May 2024 · 24 min read

A still of John Braine speaking Black and white image, portrait, John in glasses.

Desire and Ambition

Today, most of John Braine’s work is out of print and forgotten. But he was an underrated writer, unafraid to confront the complexities of masculine sexuality with terse precision, self-deprecation, and emotional candour.

Brad Strotten

13 Apr 2024 · 11 min read

The Prophet of October 7?

Frantz Fanon’s defenders try to distance him from the of ethos of violence he advocated, even as they embrace his anti-colonialist rhetoric to promote anti-Zionism.