Horn! The Collected Reviews

Most reviewers take thousands of words to do what Kevin Thomas does in nine exquisitely detailed black-and-white panels. Using his captivating illustrations and no more than a handful of words, week by week Thomas decrypts some of the most intriguing books of our day for readers of The Rumpus: now seventy-five of his favorites are collected in one volume.

Fiction and non-fiction, cutting-edge and popular books; the one quality these works have in common is that they’ve attracted Thomas’ remarkably perceptive gaze and pen. This is a paean to reading by a thoroughly unjaded, committed amateur of the art, seriously appreciative of each book’s unique attributes. The works he selects are ones he admires: and he excels at conveying the excitement and respect they inspire in him. What a list he’s compiled: Jonathan Lethem, Jim Shepard, Rachel Kushner, Renata Adler, Georges Perec, David Graeber, Julian Assange, George Saunders, Hilton Als, Oliver Sacks, Cheryl Strayed, Dennis Cooper and Jennifer Egan are just a few of the authors whose work is here brilliantly distilled.

Visual haikus closer to meditative poetry than traditional criticism, Thomas’ unforgettable, evocative drawings often manage to encapsulate the essence of a book far better than a 2,000 word essay in our leading journals. Take a look for yourself.