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May 24, 2018lukasevansherman rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
"You remained the person you were before things happened to you." Rachel Kushner's 2013 novel is one of the more ambitious, daring, and compelling novels of the decade. I don't say that lightly. While we're gradually getting away from the myth of the Great American Novel and the myth of male genius, many of the books that continued to be feted and heralded as masterpieces, from Franzen's egregriously praised novels to "City on Fire" to "The Nix," are conventional male "great novel" books. So it's refreshing to read a book that, while it has a familiar structure, has a distinctive voice and is able to find something new to do with a well-worn genre. There's no point in relating the plot, but those looking for an important and fresh voice in American fiction should pick this up. Her latest novel is about prisons and called "The Mars Room."