Category: Criticism

Criticism

As The #MeToo Backlash Continues, Let Us Remember the Short Stories of Emma Cline’s Daddy

In his 2017 book, Kids These Days, Malcolm Harris predicts, among other things, the eventual raging return of on-blast misogyny (what he refers to as the “misogynist backlash”). Mainly as a result of looking for a scapegoat to blame for the way things are when, in fact, things are that way as a direct result of the patriarchal, male-spewed “values” we all still adhere to … Continue reading As The #MeToo Backlash Continues, Let Us Remember the Short Stories of Emma Cline’s Daddy

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

Tate Carmichael’s Review of Paris Hilton’s Memoir, Oh So Originally Called “Paris: The Memoir”

Tate Carmichael is the star of her own memoir, Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life, which depicts perhaps a more honest view than most of the period known as the aughts. The Opiate Books does not necessarily agree with or condone the opinions expressed and contained herein (complete with what many would call “strong language”), however we believe in freedom of speech and that, as Paris … Continue reading Tate Carmichael’s Review of Paris Hilton’s Memoir, Oh So Originally Called “Paris: The Memoir”

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

Moby-Dick Splooges All Over The Whale

It’s easy to forget that the title of Herman Melville’s most major work, Moby-Dick, has another component to it: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Fittingly, Samuel D. Hunter’s adaptation of his own play, The Whale, has plenty of nods to Moby-Dick. And not just because Charlie is “the whale” in question that everyone seems intent on “getting”—particularly a missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), who wants to … Continue reading Moby-Dick Splooges All Over The Whale

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

New York Is A Town of Ghosts (You’ve Fucked): Cult Classic

It’s no secret that staying at the fair that is New York for too long (to paraphrase Joan D.) will lead to irreparable damage. Usually of the emotional variety—though you might also need a liver transplant after all the drinking expected of you as well. Sloane Crosley is here to crystallize that fact in literary form with her sophomore novel, Cult Classic. In contrast to her … Continue reading New York Is A Town of Ghosts (You’ve Fucked): Cult Classic

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

Don’t Hide Your Pride (and Prejudice): The Gay-ification of Jane Austen in Fire Island

Some might offer the idea that Jane Austen was already the pinnacle of gay. What with all of her main characters forced to stifle their true desires and feelings due to the pressures of a subjugating society that not only looked down upon the free expression of sexuality, but especially the free expression of sexuality on the part of women. Who might end up “making … Continue reading Don’t Hide Your Pride (and Prejudice): The Gay-ification of Jane Austen in Fire Island

Genna Rivieccio1 Comment
Criticism

The Weightiness of a “Small” Event: Annie Ernaux’s L’événement

Maybe there’s a reason you can’t spell “foetus” without “foe.” At least not in British English. In any case, Annie Ernaux must have feared on some level that future generations would need a reminder of how harrowing life in a country where abortion is outlawed can be. Women of the present might have grown accustomed to the apparent “luxury” of having access to a safe, … Continue reading The Weightiness of a “Small” Event: Annie Ernaux’s L’événement

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

New Mexico Finally Gets a Hardboiled Detective in Max Talley’s Santa Fe Psychosis

When it comes to the noir genre as it pertains to place, perhaps one still immediately thinks of Raymond Chandler and his macabre view of Los Angeles as seen through the lens of Philip Marlowe. Then, of course, there’s always the archetypal curmudgeonly detective of the East Coast, usually (and vexingly) based in New York. But few authors, if any, have dared to set their … Continue reading New Mexico Finally Gets a Hardboiled Detective in Max Talley’s Santa Fe Psychosis

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

They Don’t Build Statues of Critics…Just Mansplainers: On White Men Feeling the Need to Chime in About Statues of Literary Critics When a Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

Charli XCX is finally having a moment. Or, at least, a moment that’s more in the mainstream than ever before. This being a result of her push to become a Right Proper Pop Star by fully utilizing all the major resources of her juggernaut label, Atlantic, to promote her last album of the contract, Crash (an erudite J. G. Ballard reference, in case you didn’t … Continue reading They Don’t Build Statues of Critics…Just Mansplainers: On White Men Feeling the Need to Chime in About Statues of Literary Critics When a Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

Bath Haus Asks the Question: Aren’t Gay Sugar Daddies the Ultimate Villain?

P. J. Vernon has perhaps done the previously unthinkable: set himself apart from the usual mold of gay fiction with his sophomore novel, Bath Haus. Unlike more recent efforts in the gay male genre, namely Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s Yes, Daddy, inexplicably praised with generic words like “propulsive” and “ambitious” (sort of a polite way of saying that the ambition was not achieved), Bath Haus turns expectation on its ear through a thriller … Continue reading Bath Haus Asks the Question: Aren’t Gay Sugar Daddies the Ultimate Villain?

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment
Criticism

It’s Not the Internet, It’s You: Fake Accounts

Being meta is pretty much essential to the twenty-first century “novel.” So is exhibiting signs of “immediate retromania.” In the case of Fake Accounts (a non-risqué double entendre of a title), that means taking us “all the way back” to the Women’s March that transpired on Donald Trump’s inauguration day in 2017. As Lauren Oyler’s debut, Fake Accounts firmly establishes her place in the usual insular “New York … Continue reading It’s Not the Internet, It’s You: Fake Accounts

Genna RivieccioLeave a comment