Rico's Reviews

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Smiley’s masterpiece tells the story of an Iowa farmer who tries to divide his farm between his three daughters. As you might guess, things do not go as planned. A gorgeously written, sumptuous retelling of King Lear, the book exposes the dark truths in a typical American family. A haunting, unforgettable read. - Rico

This is one of the most beautiful and strangely compelling novels I’ve ever read. Centered around a small group of mostly failed poets in Mexico City in the 1970s, it veers to Spain, Africa, and back to Mexico in surprising and wonderful ways. Part crime story, part hero’s journey, the book is funny, poignant and one hundred percent unique. - Rico

William Boyd should be as well known as Steinbeck or Dickens. Like them, he does it all: amazing plots, wonderful descriptions and—especially—great characters. Written in the form of journal entries, this book tells the story of an art dealer and sometime-spy whose life is a kind of history of the 20^th century. Both intimate and sweeping, this is simply a great old-fashioned read. - Rico

Imbued with Dewitt’s oddball sensibility, this strange little book tells the story of an extremely wealthy (but growing poorer by the day) widow and her adult son who both absolutely positively refuse to worry about their increasingly precarious finances. Weird in the extreme, they’re sarcastic, rude, dismissive—and still strangely entertaining. An enjoyable romp. - Rico

The first half of this brilliant and intriguing novel takes place at the Biennale in Venice, where a world-weary freelance writer might be falling in love. The second part is set in Varanasi, India, where a world-weary Brit is going mad or finding nirvana, or both. Are the two characters the same guy? Are the stories connected? Dyer lets you come to your own conclusions. - Rico

Though the movie was universally panned, the book remains one of the best-written, most intriguing works of fiction of the past twenty years. Composed of six connected novellas that take place over vastly different eras, both past and future, each written in a different style, the book is a essentially a brilliant survey of humankind. One of my all-time favorites. - Rico

It comes as no surprise that one of the most unique songwriters and best lyricists of the past twenty years is also a damn fine prose writer. Tweedy's book detailing his formative years in the seminal punk-country-folk band Uncle Tupelo and the formation and history of Wilco (one of my favorite bands ever) is funny, sad and deeply honest. For music fans, this is absolutely essential. - Rico

A lot less known and heralded than she should be, Eisenberg is one of the finest short story writers working today. Her writing combines the command of character and setting of Alice Munro with the sharp humor and social skewering of George Saunders. Her stories are slyly observant, often edgy, usually funny, and always surprising in their turns and revelations. And they never fail to pack an emotional punch. Because it’s been more than a decade since her last collection of new work—Eisenberg is what is known as a “patient” writer—I, like the rest of her fans, will be lining up for this one. - Rico

When a once wealthy Upper West Side widow and her emotionally childish adult son have, after years of spendthrift foolishness, finally burned through all their money, they head for Paris. They bring Small Frank, their cat, because the widow believes he is animated by the soul of her dead husband—an infamously immoral lawyer. The characters here are awful—narcissistic, cruel, warped by money and privilege—but their story is hilarious and strangely compelling. As always, DeWitt’s writing is crisp and dead-pan witty. He creates a world that is, shall we say, different from the one you and I live in, but still believable—in a totally crazy way. I happily tore through this in a couple days, smiling the whole time. - Rico

Stegner’s masterpiece features two plots, one modern-day and the other from the 1800s, as it tells the story of a historian trying to write the biography of his long-dead grandmother. Featuring gorgeous prose and characters as real and tangible as granite, the book is an iconic novel of the west and a deeply moving narrative of one family and our national collective past. - Rico