Book Reviews

Grace Kielstra

Nov 168 min read

A review of 'Anne of the Island' (1915)

Just because you can’t go back doesn’t mean there won’t be joys, potentially even greater than before...

A review of 'White Nights' by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1848)

Tasnia Shahrin

Nov 113 min read

A review of 'White Nights' by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1848)

This portrayal of unrequited love isn’t just about rejection; it’s about the kind of longing that never quite goes away.

A review of 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett (1952)

Tasnia Shahrin

Sep 243 min read

A review of 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett (1952)

Beckett takes the concept of waiting, something we all hate, and turns it into a grand commentary on life itself.

A review of 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë (1847)

Tasnia Shahrin

Jun 174 min read

A review of 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë (1847)

There's no clear moral to this tale at all, rather it's more like an intricate, beautifully written disaster that you can't look away from.

A review of 'English Pastoral, An Inheritance' by James Rebanks (2020)

Rosie McCann

Jun 84 min read

A review of 'English Pastoral, An Inheritance' by James Rebanks (2020)

I love talking about what I’m reading, just the people around me aren't so interested. This time, it wasn’t me who started conversations.

A review of 'Ubik' by Philip K. Dick (1969)

Alfie Goodwin

Jun 75 min read

A review of 'Ubik' by Philip K. Dick (1969)

Reading a Philip K. Dick (PKD) novel can sometimes feel like wandering through the cannabis-laced imagination of a fanciful metaphysician.

A review of 'The Orange' by Wendy Cope (1992)

Hannah Williamson

Mar 14 min read

A review of 'The Orange' by Wendy Cope (1992)

Cope, in some unfathomable way, manages to capture the very moment that light comes flooding back into a person’s life.

A review of 'Written on the Body' by Jeanette Winterson (1992)

Ellie Valentine

Jan 173 min read

A review of 'Written on the Body' by Jeanette Winterson (1992)

Winterson seems to encourage us to love one another, but equally warns us against a desire that seeps into all aspects of our life.

A review of 'While We Were Dreaming' by Clemens Meyer (2023)

Rosie McCann

Jan 173 min read

A review of 'While We Were Dreaming' by Clemens Meyer (2023)

They struggle for their own freedoms, growing up in a society where not only the buildings are crumbling apart but the community too.

A review of 'Notes of a Native Son' by James Baldwin (1955)

Aanya Mitra

Jan 72 min read

A review of 'Notes of a Native Son' by James Baldwin (1955)

Baldwin has left us with a collection of essays that, to me, reads like an accidental love letter to his father and ancestors.

A review of 'Conversations in Bloomsbury' by Mulk Raj Anand (1981)

Aanya Mitra

Jan 63 min read

A review of 'Conversations in Bloomsbury' by Mulk Raj Anand (1981)

It compels us, as readers, to reevaluate, perhaps, the sometimes blissful ignorance of our literary heroes.

A review of 'Woods etc.' by Alice Oswald (2005)

Alfred Goodwin

Jan 53 min read

A review of 'Woods etc.' by Alice Oswald (2005)

Oswald seeks to illuminate the wonder and beauty of nature (though not without some angst) as well as the human place within it.

A review of 'Her Body & Other Parties', by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Hugo Donnelly

Jan 53 min read

A review of 'Her Body & Other Parties', by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Machado’s characters don’t behave like regular people. Perhaps that’s what makes this collection so irresistible.

A review of 'The Godfather', by Mario Puzo (1969)

Aanya Mitra

Oct 9, 20234 min read

A review of 'The Godfather', by Mario Puzo (1969)

Loyalty is no longer a virtue earned, but at the mercy of a coin toss- but not to worry! There are enough heads to go around.

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The Edinburgh Student Literary Journal is affiliated with the Edinburgh University Literature Society. We thank them for their continual support.