Louisa Kasza reviews the full-on memoir by former beauty editor and fulltime drug addict Cat Marnell. Charming, strung-out ex-beauty editor Cat Marnell represents many things traditionally despised about that walking thinkpiece, the millennial. Born into privilege, Marnell recognises her own potential as a writer, preferably for Condé Nast magazines, and merrily sets forth into a … Read more
Eat Me, a new study of the history and science of cannibalism, squanders the opportunity to present new insights, writes Paul Moon. Cannibalism is at once disturbing and banal. It’s disturbing because acts of cannibalism historically have generally been preceded by killings. Cannibalism is also often depicted as occurring in episodes of extreme violence, and … Read more
George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo is the year’s most talked-about novel, and there’s much excitement that the author will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival in May. Wyoming Paul reviews what may be a masterpiece. A year into the Civil War, a tormented President Lincoln visits his 11-year-old son’s crypt in the cemetery. He holds … Read more
Is Alan Greenspan the demon author of the GFC, or a true immortal of central banking? A monumental new biography persuasively argues he was neither – but that his latter-day critics have got him wrong, writes Duncan Greive. There are two Alan Greenspans in popular mythology, each in direct contradiction to the other. The first … Read more
As winner of the 2015 Nigel Cox Award, Steve Braunias was awarded $1000 worth of books at Unity. He’s finally spent the last dollar, and reports on his shopping spree. The thing about winning the Nigel Cox Prize is that it comes as a total surprise to the chosen authors, and I hate surprises. The … Read more
Sarah Laing – and her mum – “absolutely loves” The Gustav Sonata, the purringly well-made new novel by Rose Tremain. Rose Tremain is my mother’s kind of writer – which is not to say that I don’t like her too. My mother has certain criteria when it comes to books: they can have tragedy but ultimately there … Read more