The BookBrowse Review

Published July 31, 2024

ISSN: 1930-0018

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Contents

In This Edition of
The BookBrowse Review

Highlighting indicates debut books

Editor's Introduction
Reviews
Hardcovers Paperbacks
First Impressions
Latest Author Interviews
Recommended for Book Clubs
Book Discussions

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Publishing Soon

Literary Fiction


Historical Fiction


Short Stories


Essays


Poetry & Novels in Verse


Thrillers


Romance


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Graphic Novels


Biography/Memoir


History, Current Affairs and Religion


Science, Health and the Environment


True Crime


Travel & Adventure


Other


Young Adults

Mysteries


Thrillers


Romance


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Graphic Novels


History, Current Affairs and Religion


Extras
  • Blog:
    The New York Times Best 100 Books of the 21st Century: How Does BookBrowse's Coverage Compare?
  • Wordplay:
    It's R C A D
  • Book Giveaway:
    Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
Book Jacket

Yr Dead
by Sam Sax
6 Aug 2024
Publisher: McSweeney's Books
Genre: Literary Fiction

In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone Ezra's ever loved, every place they've felt queer and at home, or queer and out of place, reveals itself in an instant.

Unfolding in fragments of memory, Ezra dissolves into the family, religion, desire, losses, pains and joys that made them into the person that's decided on this final act of protest. 

Told in lyric fragments that span both lifetimes and geography, Yr Dead is a queer, Jewish, diasporic coming of age story that questions how our historical memory shapes our political and emotional present. Visceral, propulsive, and at turns fluorescently beautiful and fluorescently tragic, Yr Dead is the electric debut novel from award-winning writer Sam Sax, one of our most dynamic and imaginative writers.

"The novel is replete with vivid images, the strength of which is rare outside of poetry. Sax has produced a work that is meditative, deeply humane, and profoundly original. Less plot-driven than language-, emotion-, and image-driven—a poet's novel through and through—the result is a searingly beautiful and devastating foray into fiction. A poetic depiction of pain, queerness, Jewishness, and what it is to live." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A rare, compulsively readable combination of thunderous lyricism and pitch-perfect humor. There is not a wasted sentence, or even word, in this brilliant queer gem of a book." ―Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox

"With Yr Dead, Sax revivifies the novel form, sculpting a poignant narrative that accumulates in meaning and sticks in the mind long after reading. There is rage in this work, and resistance against the pervasive horrors of our times, which Sax engages towards a delicate and astute exploration into the contradictions of a self and society. Refreshing as it is revelatory, Yr Dead demands attention to the need for change―I am grateful for it." ―Peter Scalpello, author of Limbic

"A perfect ghost story..it surprised me―startling me into a laugh, into knowledge, into a deep and enduring ache. I love this book." ―Safia Elhillo, author of Home is Not A Country

Sam Sax is a queer, Jewish writer and educator. They're the author of PIG, Madness, and Bury It. Sam has received fellowships from The NEA, Poetry Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and Yaddo, and is currently serving as an Italic Lecturer at Stanford University.

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