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Escape from Irony

Are you religious?” alcoholic rich kid Jay asks high-achieving Ellie. “Spiritual,” she ­replies. JAY: So you go to yoga twice a week—? ELLIE: Essentially. JAY: Yeah see that’s garbage. ELLIE: It’s better than nothing. JAY: No, it is nothing. ELLIE: Probably. Matthew Gasda, in whose . . . . Continue Reading »

Sally Rooney’s Catholic Millennials

Recently, while reading Sally Rooney’s hugely acclaimed novels for the first time, I messaged a friend to say how bleak I was finding them. He replied that his impression of the books was different. In a way, we were both right. On the one hand, the novels have shafts of light and humor; . . . . Continue Reading »

Miseducation of the Millennials

Not long before the pandemic, I met a senior foreign-policy scholar at a major conservative think tank. She was visiting the New York Post opinion pages, where I worked at the time, to promote a white paper she’d just written. The title was something modest, like After Terror: . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

Inside the Mind of Thomas More:  The Witness of His Writings by louis w. karlin and david r. oakley scepter, 130 pages, $11.95 This little volume by Louis ­Karlin and David Oakley uses Thomas More’s own writings to demonstrate the nature of his witness to the truth. The authors gently . . . . Continue Reading »

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