Isabella Agostino

Tag: Fiction

  • A Seasonally Curated Reading List for the Narcissistically Introspective

    A guide for choosing what book to crack open depending on the time of year, which, of course, accounts for weather patterns, cultural occasions (such as holidays), and mood. Fair warning: you risk being transported to an alternate universe so frustratingly similar yet different from our own, like inside your least favorite Paul Thomas Anderson…

  • Biography of X (2023) by Catherine Lacey and Still Born (2020) by Guadalupe Nettel

    Two Novels, One Conversation Fact: Still Born and Biography of X are written in the first person, seemingly by someone who exists in our world. Fact: Both texts’ narrators focus primarily on someone close to them, initiating the reader into a fictional biography-memoir situation. Another fact: I enjoyed these books immensely. Still Born is Nettel’s…

  • Vladimir (2022) by Julia May Jonas

    Reviewed by Isabella Agostino ⋆⋆⋆⋆ Disclaimer: I read Roxane Gay’s review on Goodreads before diving into this debut novel, and it was spot on. I, too, wasn’t convinced of the protagonist’s strong feelings toward Vladimir, even though the narrator kept pushing that message. By the end of the novel, it’s clear that the protagonist’s manic…