Sam Sacks

Plus Gyula Krúdy’s “Mrs. Kleofas’ Rooster” and Jeyamohan’s “The Abyss.”

Sam Sacks To hazard a generalization, the archetypal American novel in the 20th century was a story of upward mobility, whereas the novel in Europe was one of decline.

Plus “The Palm House” by Gwendoline Riley and “Mount Verity” by Theresa Bohman.

Lemann, a New Orleans native, has captured her home turf in madcap fiction and reportage.

Plus Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say.”

Plus “Look What You Made Me Do” by John Lanchester and “A Siege of Owls” by Uchenna Awoke.

Translating Kafka could be deeply affecting. Primo Levi once described emerging from the task “as if from an illness.”

Sam Sacks In 1914, agitated by his friends' insistence that he become involved in the Zionist movement, Franz Kafka wrote in his diaries, “what have I in common with Jews?

Plus Harriet Clark’s “The Hill” and Ali Smith’s “Glyph.”

A woman reunites with a father she hasn’t seen in decades and faces the guilt she felt after her mother left him.