TV #28 of 2018: New Girl, season 7 From a storytelling perspective, season 6 of this sitcom wrapped things up just fine. There was no real need to bring back the series for a final abbreviated season (8 episodes, as compared to the 22+ of every previous season), but my hope was that doing so …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Book #101 of 2018: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Much like the earlier Tayari Jones novel Silver Sparrow, this story ends somewhat abruptly and before I feel like the author has really said everything she could/should with its characters. But what we do get is a compelling and believable exploration of what might happen …
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Book Review: The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Book #100 of 2018: The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (The Queen’s Thief #2) In principle this is a fine follow-up to The Thief, although it shares that novel’s predilection for hiding character plans and motives from readers even when they’re pretty easy to guess. It expands this Greek-flavored fantasy world a little, …
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TV Review: Altered Carbon, season 1
TV #27 of 2018: Altered Carbon, season 1 On the one hand, this series is based on a book that would be pretty hard to present faithfully on television, and I think the show writers have made a lot of really smart adaptation choices in how they handle that material. I’d also say that the …
Book Review: We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Book #99 of 2018: We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates A powerful collection of essays on race and racism in America, reflecting the author’s evolving understanding of these issues over the eight years of the Obama presidency. Half of these entries are drawn, roughly one per year, from articles …
Book Review: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
Book #98 of 2018: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman Practically from the start, I’ve been reeling over the emotional journey that the heroine makes in this intensely personal fantasy novel. Largely eschewing the traditional genre focus on epic quests, author Rachel Hartman has instead written a powerful meditation on trauma, grief, and healing …
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Book Review: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Book #97 of 2018: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero This book skates by on a terrific premise, which is basically Scooby-Doo crossed with Stephen King’s IT. The teens in this off-brand Mystery Gang have disbanded after stumbling across a real Lovecraftian horror, and the surviving members now reunite as adults to face their fears and …
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Book Review: Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Book #96 of 2018: Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King I’m normally a big Stephen King fan, but I’m feeling pretty underwhelmed by this recent collaboration between the bestselling author and his son Owen. The premise is fine — all the world’s women start falling into deep comas when they go to sleep, …
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TV Review: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 5
TV #26 of 2018: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 5 The finale of this season is outstanding, especially for the closure on Coulson and Fitz’s respective character arcs, but I’m not as sold on some of the episodes that get us there. Although the season has clearly been written with the knowledge that it might …
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TV Review: Bob’s Burgers, season 8
TV #25 of 2018: Bob’s Burgers, season 8 I don’t have much to say about this season of Bob’s Burgers that doesn’t apply to the show at large, but it remains impressively strong this late in its run. Top-notch, character-driven comedy that somehow hasn’t worn out its welcome despite the general lack of any sort …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 