Irish Literature

Shit Buzz in Belgrade

Kevin Power’s new novel is both riotous rant and thoughtful coming-of-age tale. The punchy lyricism enables sympathy as well as laughter

World Literature

Up and doing

The novelist John Buchan was both patriotic Scot and unionist Briton. And while his work often reveals an unpleasant racism, this sunny-tempered dynamo was still…

World Literature

Rotters in Brexitland

Jonathan Coe’s strengths as a writer – his humour, his clarity, and particularly the deft way he can sketch in the political background – make…

World Literature

Exit from Metroland

The plain-speaking, undeceived tone of Julian Barnes’s narrators, together with his suburban settings, can make him seem a quintessentially English writer. Normally, however, the gradually…

World Literature

Joe’s Golden Years

Salman Rushdie’s new novel is set in an America switching from Obama to Trump. While it may not be entirely clear what he is telling…

World Literature

Magical Migrations

Short but packed with ideas, Mohsin Hamid’s fourth novel shares with his previous work a compelling engagement with the present political moment. In its unambiguous…