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A Book as Big as Life  

City on Fire—Garth Risk Hallberg’s massive and elaborately constructed novel about New York in the 1970s—offers the contours of the great social novel. But it struggles to reveal the ways in which power actually works.





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Just Read Alison Bechdel  

As a writing teacher, I’m sometimes asked by students whether it’s ethical to write about people they know. I used to tell them to be careful if they’re settling scores, but if they’re willing to be self-critical, they should go …



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