Book Review

Also in the Book Review

'The Free World'

By DAVID BEZMOZGIS
Reviewed by LIESL SCHILLINGER

David Bezmozgis's first novel, set in Rome in 1978, follows three generations of Soviet Jews as they wait for visas to North America.

'You Think That's Bad'

By JIM SHEPARD
Reviewed by THOMAS MALLON

Jim Shepard's research helps bring catastrophic fiction to life, though the characters may not survive.

'Killing the Black Dog' and 'Taller When Prone'

By LES MURRAY
Reviewed by MEGHAN O'ROURKE

The Australian poet Les Murray offers a memoir of his depression, and a new book of verse.

'Unfamiliar Fishes'

By SARAH VOWELL
Reviewed by KAUI HART HEMMINGS

Sarah Vowell explores Hawaii's strange, tumultuous history, livening it up with her satirical, smart-alecky voice.

'Emily, Alone'

By STEWART O'NAN
Reviewed by JOANNA SMITH RAKOFF

A widow's quiet life is altered when she buys a car and finds herself open to the world anew.

'Dancing in the Glory of Monsters'

By JASON K. STEARNS
Reviewed by ADAM HOCHSCHILD

A journalist explores why Congo has been left to its cycle of war and massacre.

'Please Look After Mom'

By KYUNG-SOOK SHIN
Reviewed by MYTHILI G. RAO

In Kyung-sook Shin's novel, family members suffer guilt and regret when their matriarch goes missing in a Seoul subway station.

'Quantum Man'

Reviewed by GEORGE JOHNSON

A new biography of the Nobel Prize winner Richard P. Feynman, by a fellow physicist, concentrates less on Feynman the odd character and more on the thinker.

'Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother'

By XINRAN
Reviewed by LESLEY DOWNER

A shocking account of family-planning attitudes and practices in China.

On the Cover of Sunday's Book Review

'Bismarck: A Life'

By JONATHAN STEINBERG
Reviewed by HENRY A. KISSINGER

This incisive biography takes a psychological approach to describing the highly complex man who unified Germany and dominated European diplomacy during the late 19th century.

'The Long Road Home'

By BEN SHEPHARD
Reviewed by RICHARD TOYE

A history of the logistical, political and moral challenges faced by post-World War II relief workers caring for "displaced persons."

'You Are What You Speak'

By ROBERT LANE GREENE
Reviewed by GEOFFREY NUNBERG

Robert Lane Greene surveys the ways received ideas about language can lead us astray.

'A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS'

By JENNET CONANT
Reviewed by LOUISA THOMAS

A group portrait of idealists, including Julia and Paul Child, who served in the O.S.S. during World War II.

'All the Time in the World'

By E. L. DOCTOROW
Reviewed by JESS ROW

A collection of stories from E. L. Doctorow, whose fictionalizations of American history influenced a generation.

Fiction Chronicle

By JAN STUART

Novels by Bathsheba Monk, Meg Howrey, Camilla Gibb, Leila Aboulela and Maeve Binchy.