Book Reviews: Red Clocks and The Gargoyle Hunters

I've recently had two more book reviews published! 

Both are in the Brooklyn Rail. 

First, you can hear what I thought of Leni Zumas' Red Clocks, which I called "a searing and irresistible look at the ways in which women are subjugated, both visible and invisible." 

I loved this book, and I found it both well-written and timely. The story of five women, all of whom are only referred to by their occupation or relationship to society rather than by name, Red Clocks is set in a parallel America, not unlike our own, in which abortion is once again illegal in the U.S. and the country is close to adopting a law that prohibits single people from adopting children. 

From the review: "It doesn’t take long to see that this world isn’t science fiction at all. We’re perilously close to it becoming a reality in our own." 

Read the entire review here. 

Then there's John Freeman Gill's The Gargoyle Hunters. This one I enjoyed less so, but it's still aptly described as a "love letter to a vanishing city." 

The Gargoyle Hunters centers on the story of Griffin Watts, a 13-year-old boy who discovers his father has a hobby of stealing pieces of architecture from old New York City buildings in order to save them from destruction. 

The climax of the story is based on an actual event, the theft of several panels of the Bogardus building in 1974. 

From the review: "The Gargoyle Hunters is fascinating for the way it dramatizes one possible narrative lurking behind this bizarre historic event. While the Bogardus building heist actually happened (the book even quotes The New York Times story practically word for word), Gill constructs a completely fictional set of circumstances surrounding it." 

Check out the full review here.