A satisfying and deeply moving read

Steven Gillis’ latest novel once again reminds us that he is not only a master storyteller able to conjure up narrative magic, but it’s his lyrical voice throughout the narrative that’s capable of finding the poetry in the most unlikely places that makes him the 21st century heir to Saul Bellow, John Cheever, and Stanley Elkin. When you mix Gillis’ sad, beaten lyricism with his continual explosions of narrative surprise, the result is a glorious, tense luminosity that makes Benchere in Wonderland his best book yet, a satisfying and deeply moving read.