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O City Of Broken Dreams by John Cheever Analysis
In “O City Of Broken Dreams” by John Cheever a stupidly optimistic Evarts Molloy writes the first act of a play then uproots his family and takes them to New York on thirty-five dollars, which to him seems like a huge sum. Everything in New York seems to glitter. The reader — more worldly than […]
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Mog The Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr Analysis
Mog The Forgetful Cat is the story that introduced Mog to young readers at the beginning of the 1970s. You’ll see from the illustrations that this is a book of its time, with 1970s fashion and a traditional nuclear family set-up, including a population that, compared to modern day London, is overwhelmingly white. If there […]
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The Enormous Radio by John Cheever Analysis
When I was growing up my father knew a man whose hobby was to listen in to other people’s conversations on a radio you could get, but which I believe was illegal. Using this radio, it was possible to listen in on police conversations. He’d know before anyone else about accidents and domestic incidents, deaths and […]
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The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr Analysis
The Tiger Who Came To Tea (1968) is a picture book written and illustrated by British storyteller Judith Kerr.
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The Cost Of Living by Mavis Gallant Analysis
This is the kind of subtle story which would make a terrible movie adaptation, except perhaps in the most subtle of hands. One character confronts another for some wrong-doing, and in one fell swoop the wrongdoer manages to sully the waters with ease, simply because she’s had so much practice. PLOT The first big chunk […]
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Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown Analysis
Goodnight Moon is an American picturebook classic, and is of particular interest because who would’ve thunk it? Margaret Wise Brown had a talent for creating odd-duck prose which went down a treat (and still does) with the preschool set. But is this book only of value for toddlers? Never. PARATEXT In a great green room, tucked away […]
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The Common Day by John Cheever Analysis
“The Common Day” is a slice of life story set around the time of the 20th Century world wars. Though this story was first published after WW2 had ended, the story is set in a time of unrest, when even the most cosseted upper-crust of New Hampshire can’t feel entirely at ease about the future. […]
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Harry The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham Analysis
Harry The Dirty Dog (1956) is a good example of what Bakhtin termed ‘the material bodily principle‘ — the human body and its concerns with food and drink (commonly in hyperbolic forms of gluttony and deprivation), sexuality (usually displaced into questions of undress) and excretion (usually displaced into opportunities for getting dirty). This book is also […]
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The Great Chain Of Being by Kim Edwards Analysis
You may recognise the author’s name from her bestselling The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, which was first published 8 years later in 2005. WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT A girl feels overlooked because her important father gives names of significant family members to each of her siblings except to her. She tries in vain to win his […]
