The comeback of the literary antihero

There was a time when readers expected to admire the protagonist. We wanted courage, kindness and, if not perfection, then at least someone worth cheering on. Heroes made mistakes, but they usually found redemption. Justice, more often than not, prevailed.

Modern literary fiction has taken a rather different path.

Today, some of the most memorable novels are populated by characters who are selfish, manipulative, emotionally detached or quietly destructive. They lie. They disappoint us. Sometimes they commit terrible acts. More often than not, they simply refuse to become the people we hope they will be.

When a book becomes too heavy to hold: Reading A Little Life

Some books draw us in gently. Others demand something from us. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is a novel that does both. 

It's a book, which, for me, was packed with such overbearing emotional weight, emotion so densely packed like bodies pressed together on the tube, that it is a challenging read.

Julian Barnes: The six essential reads

A Sense of an Ending had been on my to-be-read pile for a long time, and I can’t believe I put it off for so long.

 It is such a wonderful book, and told in just 150 pages. It has the feel of a much longer novel because it packs so much in. Such a worthy Booker Prize winner.