5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

Lisa Hanawalt’s book I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex blends humor, memoir, and surreal illustrations to explore themes of sexuality and self-perception. The book features Hanawalt’s signature style of colorful animal drawings and vignettes that oscillate between playful and disturbing. For example, she imagines an exaggerated, eroticized version of Mister Rogers, a PBS host known for his wholesome image, taking off more than just his cardigan. The narrative alternates between her cartoon avatar—a pink bird or green monster—and stark, unsettling self-depictions, such as a femur being sawed apart. While the book is marketed as a memoir, its structure defies traditional categories, combining long prose sections with silent sketches and photographs inspired by artist David Hockney. Hanawalt’s work challenges readers to confront uncomfortable questions about sexual liberation and the contradictions between self-perception and reality. The book’s title reflects its central tension: an endless cycle of introspection that both fascinates and unsettles the author and her fictional counterpart, Juniper.

Chad Harbach’s novel The Brightness is a quasi-historical work set in a gentle, almost utopian college environment called Westish. The story critiques middlebrow realist novels, dismissing them as 'not exactly the news about how we live' or 'mashed-potato realism.' These terms refer to novels that meticulously replicate everyday life but lack deeper social or philosophical insight. Harbach’s characters debate whether such novels are worth reading, even as the book itself adopts a realist style. The novel draws inspiration from classic works like Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Edith Wharton’s short story The Pelican, which explore themes of social ostracism and moral compromise. However, critics argue that Harbach’s Westish lacks the gritty realism of real-world college dynamics, particularly regarding issues like sexual assault and the moral compromises students make. The novel’s central question—whether old-fashioned novels can still resonate in modern times—mirrors a broader debate about the purpose of literature in an era dominated by instant news and digital communication.

Claire-Louise Bennett’s novel Kiss Kiss, Bye-Bye is a modernist exploration of consciousness, characterized by repetitive, dreamlike prose that mimics the natural loops of human thought. The novel’s language often feels deliberately redundant, with scenes and anecdotes recurring without clear resolution. This style is compared to 'repetition degeneration,' a term borrowed from AI language models that get stuck in self-reinforcing loops. Bennett’s work aligns with a strain of modernism that prioritizes capturing the fluidity and messiness of thought over traditional narrative clarity. The novel reflects on the devaluation of written language in a world saturated with digital communication, where the written word is abundant and often loses its meaning. Despite its abstract style, Bennett’s prose feels alive, as if the narrator is discovering her thoughts in the act of writing. The phrase 'Yes, that’s right' recurs throughout, giving the text a spontaneous, almost conversational quality.

Meghan O’Gieblyn’s memoir Will and Attention is a spiritual and philosophical exploration of addiction and faith. The book recounts her struggle with alcoholism, sobriety, and a subsequent relapse during the pandemic, framed through her engagement with theological and philosophical texts, particularly the writings of Simone Weil. O’Gieblyn grapples with the idea that God does not and cannot exist, yet the concepts that led humans to conceive of God persist in human experience. She describes her addiction as a misguided attempt to escape her will, drawing a parallel between intoxication and religious ecstasy. The memoir is structured as an unfinished spiritual diary, blending personal narrative with rigorous intellectual inquiry. O’Gieblyn’s work highlights the tension between human will and divine grace, a central theme in Christian theology where human will is often seen as the source of disobedience and evil. The book’s title reflects its dual focus on the collapse of will during addiction and the struggle to regain control.