Brett Josef Grubisic

Read, write, review, garden, fret. Repeat.

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“It’s no hagiography, though, and not infrequently summons an association with the barrage of put-downs common to comedy roasts. As tributes go, Warner’s ferocity is unexpected”: reviewing We oughta Know by Andrea Warner… https://t.co/IwYnKPqvtL

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Nimbly poetic, unapologetically pensive, and deeply idiosyncratic, it’s a Schrödinger’s novel— simultaneously certain and uncertain”: reviewing Hester in Sunlight by Hannah Calder… https://t.co/rDq7CbBrTq

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“As a Bildungsroman, Yellow Barks Spider isn’t in the business of reassurances. Growing up, Kid comes to see, can be arduous, with disorder and pain and failure and confusion as prevalent as their opposites”: reviewing Yellow Barks Spider by Harman Burns… https://t.co/ALTQiFYCWg

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“As truths are told and decisive actions taken, the author returns to his appealing dramatization of redemption and personal evolution. Far easier said than done, he implies. But not impossible”: reviewing Every Drop of Blood is Red by Umar Tarek… https://t.co/ijb4XxMJR6

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

The “clipped delivery and period details of Crooked portray the fraught inner working of the gang and a culture where media, celebrity, policing, and spectacle are in an embryonic form”: reviewing Crooked by Dietrich Kalteis… https://t.co/l3gR1eA2jv

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Somewhere between a cosy mystery and Sam Wiebe, Barcelona Red Metallic keeps readers riveted, curious, and unnerved—just the things we crave from a murder mystery”: reviewing Barcelona Red Metallic by Christine Cosack… https://t.co/4OAV3SCaYI

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Taut and tense and accomplished, an adroit tale of redemption in a vividly-rendered, unforgiving region of hardship and rare second chances”: reviewing ‘Bad Land’ by Corinna Chong… https://t.co/Jtiy5F36xK

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“A ritual ceremony and epic celebration is tinged with melancholy in Basran’s hands”: reviewing ‘The Wedding” by Gurjinder Basran… https://t.co/Y4pF1IOHux

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Perhaps Peggy’s signal achievement is its author’s devotion. One can easily imagine Peggy Guggenheim meeting Rebecca Godfrey and being captivated by someone who so naturally lived and breathed art”: reviewing ‘Peggy’ by Rebecca Godfrey… https://t.co/b55RgtNZOi

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

A “summary account… relates the gist of the plot’s arc, it completely fails to indicate the novel’s bristling, vivid, and astonishingly vivid portraiture”: reviewing May Our Joy Endure by Kevin Lambert… https://t.co/QhPr2YT9UO

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

"Terrific essay collection covers agri-business, beans on toast, a century-old recipe for trifle, gender politics, potatoes, and a whole lot more": reviewing Hearty: On Cooking, Eating, and Growing Food for Pleasure and Subsistence, by Andrea Bennett... https://t.co/MrE4UMnBVe

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Winter has A Troubled History. And not just a stack of unpaid parking tickets or an arrest at a political rally while she was in college”: reviewing ‘The Outlier’ by Elisabeth Eaves… https://t.co/xfVEjnT16e

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“At heart, Oil People is a story about adolescence – its volatility and uncertainties, the questions and intense learning curve”: reviewing ‘Oil People’ by David Huebert… https://t.co/QbpwbbEAL3

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“For all the busyness, Pillow, Battershill’s charming anti-hero, remains the heart and soul of Pet, Pet, Slap. Impulsive, supremely unfiltered, and surprisingly gentle, he keeps your eye on the page”: reviewing ‘Pet, Pet, Slap’ by Andrew Battershill… https://t.co/TwSkafpWVf

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“With short, smoothly plotted chapters, Harding displays an effortless mastery at beguiling readers with a superabundance of suspects. She’s a whiz too at ratcheting up the tension”: reviewing ‘The Haters’ by Robyn Harding… https://t.co/UeInme7m2L

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Restless, exuberant, meandering, funny, inventive, and really quite bonkers, they’re long in form … and deeply enthusiastic as writing”: reviewing ‘Hey, Horse’ by Richard Kelly Kemick… https://t.co/SGcOS1UxoW

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“An elegantly told, candid, and often intriguing personal history, the memoir never fails to edify”: reviewing Crooked Teeth by Danny Ramadan… https://t.co/bcAAYGFmjz

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“And with many of the travel pieces side-stepping Burgess’s stated concerns altogether, 'Reservations' veers from its key purpose”: reviewing ‘Reservations’ by Steve Burgess… https://t.co/vEoYCLo3fb

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Refreshingly verbose, the novel subverts its own genre with its amusing insistence on much talk before any action”: reviewing ‘Black State’ by John Delacourt… https://t.co/V4Zx5Uq9JF

[Brett Josef Grubisic @BrettJGrubisic]

“Marred, rambling, incomplete, and terminally misguided, Norma captivates on the page”: reviewing NORMA by Sarah Mintz… https://t.co/hxde1H0YKx