Maureen Corrigan

Before long, High began to know which employee was behind him by their scent alone. The Johnson & Johnson baby lotion Wayne rubbed over grease burns on his arms. The traces of whiskey coming through the Wrigley's Maureen chewed. The bootleg Tom Ford BJ wore, cut with the strawberry starbursts Russia was always sucking on.

The Emperor of Gladness is a truly great novel about work, still an under-acknowledged topic in American fiction. Hard work is supposed to get you somewhere. That's part of the promise of America. But the payoff feels much less certain to these characters.

The Emperor of Gladness is a truly great novel about work, still an under-acknowledged topic in American fiction. Hard work is supposed to get you somewhere. That's part of the promise of America. But the payoff feels much less certain to these characters.

The Emperor of Gladness is a truly great novel about work, still an under-acknowledged topic in American fiction. Hard work is supposed to get you somewhere. That's part of the promise of America. But the payoff feels much less certain to these characters.

A winning lottery ticket, an inheritance, maybe even a union would have to come along to propel these characters to a place of greater humane possibility. Vuong's achingly austere artistic vision leaves it to his readers to imagine the better world he won't let himself depict on the pages of this wonderful novel.

A winning lottery ticket, an inheritance, maybe even a union would have to come along to propel these characters to a place of greater humane possibility. Vuong's achingly austere artistic vision leaves it to his readers to imagine the better world he won't let himself depict on the pages of this wonderful novel.

A winning lottery ticket, an inheritance, maybe even a union would have to come along to propel these characters to a place of greater humane possibility. Vuong's achingly austere artistic vision leaves it to his readers to imagine the better world he won't let himself depict on the pages of this wonderful novel.

Good. Molly. Hey. We have something for your list. Orgasm with another person.

Good. Molly. Hey. We have something for your list. Orgasm with another person.

Good. Molly. Hey. We have something for your list. Orgasm with another person.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, The demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, The demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, The demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and was a temporary and less successful member of that émigré colony of filmmakers that included Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang. On a trip to France in 1939 to make a film and visit his mother, Pabst was stranded by the outbreak of war and returned to Nazi Germany. Enter the devil in the form of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.