Rooney’s novel ends up as an overlong interlude, poised between significant moments, not substantial enough to compose its own movement.
Books
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
A century of James Baldwin’s prophetic voice
The centennial of James Baldwin’s birth is an invitation to join the ranks of “the relatively conscious” who will help the nation engage in the metanoia needed to become the country that Baldwin constantly believed and hoped it could become.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Garth Greenwell’s mystical novel ‘Small Rain’ teaches the art of living from a hospital bed
Garth Greenwell’s Small Rain is a mystical novel, a story in which illness becomes an occasion for a new attention to one’s life and loves.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
John Fante: the almost-forgotten scribe of Los Angeles
John Fante’s fiction depicted Los Angeles through a penetrating, panoramic gaze—and anticipated the rise of the Beats in American literature.
Posted inArts & Culture, Interviews
Interview: Colm Tóibín on ‘Long Island,’ sequel-writing and the delight of a Costco chicken
Colm Tóibín’s new novel, ‘Long Island,’ is a sequel to perhaps his best-known book, ‘Brooklyn.’ What was it like to take up the story again two decades later? He tells us in this interview with America.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Martyrs for the earth
In ‘Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common Home,’ Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo invites us to look carefully at the lives of modern ecomartyrs as a guide to help us “re-imagine and re-embody the relationship between human beings and the earth.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Debunking marriage myths
Why would you get married? In his new book, ‘Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization,’ Brad Wilcox argues that civilization itself depends upon convincing more Americans to tie the knot.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Paul Horgan, the Catholic polymath you’ve never heard of
Paul Horgan was a favorite of critics for his fiction and non-fiction alike during his long life—but his work deserves greater appreciation today.
Posted inArts & Culture, Vantage Point
Writing advice from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Horgan
When novelist/historian Paul Horgan was honored with America Media’s Campion Award in 1957, he reflected on the process of creative writing—something the two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize knew a thing or two about.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: New book challenges the ‘villainous’ image of the Vatican Curia
The Vatican Curia is a mystery, but it need not be a shadowy mystery. Anthony Ekpo’s ‘The Roman Curia: History, Theology and Organization’ contributes greatly to our understanding of the structures and organization of the Curia.