July 1, 2012

This week's reviews

REGRETS ONLY

A Thousand Pardons, Jonathan Dee
"What does it mean to say “I’m sorry”? Increasingly, in this age of ceremonial, highly ritualized apology, it’s hard to distinguish between true remorse and savvy public relations......more".
Reviewed by Katharine Noel
  • Tirza

    THE GRADUATE

    Reviewed by Scott Hutchins

    Pop quiz: you are writing an insightful, strange, funny and dark investigation into a family of four coming together for the younger daughter’s high school graduation. Who will be your point-of-view character? Is it (a) the...more

  • Life After Life

    LATE BLOOMERS

    Reviewed by Roy Hoffman

    From the knowing grandmother in the novel “Tending to Virginia” to the failing mother stressing out her daughter in the short story “Going Away Shoes,” elderly characters have always played their parts in Jill...more

  • The Rithmatist

    THE ONE LEAST LIKELY

    Reviewed by Patrick Ness

    There’s always a boy, and there’s always a girl. They may not like each other at first, but they find a way to work together. Friendship always blossoms, sometimes romance. There’s a society they have to fight against and a...more

  • The Lucy Variations

    THE PLAYING'S THE THING

    Reviewed by Vivien Schweitzer

    Leopold Mozart shuttled Wolfgang Amadeus around Europe for years, parading his son in front of endless royalty to secure commissions and performances. More than two centuries later, a bullying stage father helped propel the...more

  • A Delicate Truth

    LE CARRE'S LATEST

    Reviewed by Olen Steinhauer

    “I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,” George Smiley said in John le Carre’s 1974 classic, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” â(euro) Š“Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our...more

  • See all Reviews from The New York Times