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I Live in the Slums by Can Xue Book Cover

Familiarity and the Narrative Ledge: A Review of I Live in the Slums, a New Collection by Can Xue

The narratives in each of the 16 stories in this collection vacillate between the micro—insects, rodents, birds, plants, and the macro—life, death, civilization, humanity. Can Xue’s prose, too, vacillates between playful turns of phrase and deadly serious subject matter to provide a constantly shifting narrative experience.

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Bound in the Bond of Life Book Cover

A Horrendous Day in the Neighborhood: A Review of Bound in the Bond of Life, Pittsburgh Writers Reflect on the Tree of Life Tragedy

The massacre is considered the largest ever terror act against Jews on American soil. But it is not a book created only for students of Jewish history. The imperative to a general readership calls to mind James Joyce’s quote: that in the particular is the
universal.

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