How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum review unforgettable story of a shattering rift
The ObserverFiction in translationReviewA mother tries to understand why her daughter has cut off contact in the author’s mesmerising and disquieting English-language debut
Hila Blum’s English-language debut opens with a scene of domestic harmony, as two young sisters and their parents sit down to dinner in a book-filled house in a Netherlands suburb. What changes everything is the fact that we’re viewing it through the eyes of a woman who is standing across the street, thousands of miles from home and hidden by darkness, glimpsing her grandchildren for the first time.
James McCaffrey, voice of Max Payne and Alan Wake games, dies at 65 | Movies
Movies This article is more than 1 month oldJames McCaffrey, voice of Max Payne and Alan Wake games, dies at 65This article is more than 1 month oldThe actor, who also starred in film and television for decades, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer
James McCaffrey, the actor who provided the voice of the titular character of the Max Payne video games, has died aged 65.
Le Cinq, Paris: restaurant review
Jay Rayner on restaurantsFoodReviewIt was supposed to be a joyous trip to one of France’s famous gastro palaces – what could possibly go wrong?
Le Cinq, Four Seasons Hôtel George V, 31 avenue George V, 75008 Paris (00 331 49 52 71 54). Meal for two, including service and modest wine: €600 (£520)
There is only one thing worse than being served a terrible meal: being served a terrible meal by earnest waiters who have no idea just how awful the things they are doing to you are.
The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang review a tasty succession drama
Book of the dayFictionReviewA mysterious death in a small-town family restaurant kickstarts a darkly comic tale of rivalry
Lan Samantha Chang’s third novel begins by bringing history to the table: “For thirty-five years, everyone supported Leo Chao’s restaurant.” The Wisconsin eatery is a family affair. Everyone assumes it will eventually be peacefully handed down to one of Leo’s three sons – but they overlook just how fraught and bloody inheritance can be.
Why do mice have such long tails?
Notes and queriesAnimalsThe long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts
Why do mice have such long tails? Several wood mice live in the dry stone wall a couple of metres from my back door. Most of them have tails that are longer than their bodies. Occasionally one has a tail only about half as long, which I suspect has been shortened accidentally.
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh sex, death and baking
BooksReviewSet in postwar France, this sharp fable explores the power desire and envy exert over reality and memory
Three books in, we can begin to say that there are traits in Sophie Mackintosh’s novels which are particularly Mackintoshian. The image of a woman with a man’s hand around her throat. The attendant sexual violence that image suggests. A veil thrown over questions of time and location that lends both prose and plot a gauzy, fever-dream quality.
How to talk so teens will listen | Life and style
Life and styleHow to talk so teens will listenAdolescence doesn't have to be hell for parents or teenagers, say bestselling authors Elaine Mazlish and Adele Faber. The key? Knowing how to talk so they listen, and listen so they talk'At 12, my daughter would come home from a party and say, 'Mum, Louisa was smoking, isn't that terrible!' But by 13 she'd changed. She took up with these very wild twin girls, who smoked dope and hitched rides at night.
Melissa Kahraman: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)
The funniest things on the internetCultureThe actor shares the clips and memes keeping her company at 2am – including two reality TV dons and a tiny house
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Hello! I’m Melissa, I’m an actor and sometimes writer, which means I spend the majority of my time endlessly scrolling through the slop on the internet to find that one perfect meme to send to a best friend with no context.
Sacred Nature by Karen Armstrong review back to the garden
Book of the dayScience and nature booksReviewThe former nun argues that reconnecting with the spiritual side of nature could help us contend with the climate crisis
In Laurence Sterne’s 1759 novel Tristram Shandy, the hero describes how his good-natured uncle Toby is plagued by a particularly large and annoying fly which “buzzed about his nose, and tormented him cruelly all dinner time”. Eventually he manages to catch the offending insect, but instead of killing it, he releases it out of the window.
Seven questions for seven poets
Kae Tempest edits the Observer New ReviewPoetryObserver New Review guest editor Kate Tempest asks seven fellow poets who she admires to answer one another’s questions about their craft, and how they define success
I find it frustrating when reading profiles of artists how little attention is paid to discussion of practice. I have found there to be a tendency to encourage artists to pontificate on current affairs, sensationalising their experiences of craft and work.