Brian Chappell

Bat & Man

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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It’s also the nature of mythology to slowly but surely seep into the collective consciousness.

1Q84

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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All the tasty bits of vintage Murakami are here: dull but steadfast male leads, hypersexual and hypersexy teenagers, strange conspiracies loaded with uncanny coincidences, and, of course, forays into parallel universes.

Monsters, Inc.

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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Zone One is not a zombie novel.

Indie Bookstores: Paris

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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What would a trip to Paris be without a gentle kiss from Destiny?

Indie Bookstores: Cambridge and Boston

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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The first books I saw when I walked in were Franco Moretti’s two-volume history of the novel. I’m in paradise.

Poem of the Week: Brooks Lampe

by Brian Chappell Poems of the Week
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[Three Prose Poems]

Poem of the Week: J.T. Welsch

by Brian Chappell Poems of the Week
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[Hook]

Poem of the Week: Luke Johnson

by Brian Chappell Poems of the Week
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[Psalm for Third Base]

Poem of the Week: Yahia Lababidi

by Brian Chappell Poems of the Week
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[What do animals dream?]

All in a Day’s Work

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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These types of genres are a narratologist’s dream, because one can spend an inordinate amount of time (even in a 190 page book like this one) teasing out the tiniest components of this unfamiliar world.

Caleb’s Passing

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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The climax of the novel is so mawkish that its downright dismissal of the fraught implications of his “achievement” are extremely troubling.

The Narratology of LOST: Loops and Privileged Positions

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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LOST generates the final thrust of its narrative through even more privileged positions.

Stories Within Stories Within Stories Within…

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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Okay! Fine. Tea Obreht is a veritable prodigy, and The Tiger’s Wife is uncannily good. Most (no, all) reviewers, as well as the likes of Colum McCann, TC Boyle, and Ann Patchett, say no less. But this novel is not just good for a twenty-five year old. Most of us would kill to kill it like she does.

David Foster Wallace’s Open-Ended End Game

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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Wallace over the years was most interested in narratives of suffering. Boredom (so closely linked to the problem of addiction, which he addressed in Infinite Jest) is one such type, and it takes center stage in his last book, an unfinished project published under the title The Pale King.

Indie Bookstores: Vancouver

by Brian Chappell Reviews & Interviews
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But how to discern which to visit, on my limited conference schedule and lack of motorized transport? Our decided upon method was a combination of combing the neighborhoods that we already wanted to see, and tossing a net around the area of our hotel.

Indie Bookstores: Kramerbooks

by Brian Chappell Fiction
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I indulge fantasies of ownership, lament the limited capacity of my wallet and shelf space to accommodate all the books I want. But I gird myself and leave with nothing, happy to have looked, touched, but saved myself again.

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