Revolutionary Blues

For some of us avid readers, the joy of reading novels is nearly matched by the pleasure of recommending them to our most simpatico friends. Thoughtful criticism can play this role writ large. I can still remember the reviewers who first stimulated my interest in particular authors: Martin Amis’ collected reviews of various J. G. Ballard novels in The War Against Cliché; Alan Hollinghurst’s insightful review of Bryan Washington’s first novel Memorial and Washington’s excellent collection of interconnected short stories, Lot; or Rachel Kushner’s paean to Denis Johnson in The Hard Crowd. A decade ago, a colleague did me a service by handing me a copy of Hari Kunzru’s Gods Without Men (2011), saying, “I think you will like this,” and making some reference to the book reminding him of Townes Van Zandt’s music.