REVIEW: THE ECLIPTIC by Benjamin Wood

Author Benjamin Wood seems to find his stories among the desperately brilliant and talented, who can’t seem to get a handle on their own intelligence. In The Bellwether Revivals, his characters get themselves into trouble because Cambridge somehow isn’t intellectually stimulating enough. Wood’s characters are continually grappling with the anxiety of influence, paralyzing themselves entirely.…

REVIEW: THE BELLWETHER REVIVALS by Benjamin Wood

The Bellwether Revivals is part Evelyn Waugh, part Patricia Highsmith, and part… something else.  Twilight Zone, perhaps.  The protagonist, Oscar Lowe, is a townie with few prospects in the storied university town of Cambridge.  While wandering past the King’s College chapel, he is entranced by the organ music he hears.  He sits in on the…