Reviews

Affinities – Brian Dillon & We the Parasites – A. V. Marraccini

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Together, these books advocate for a new way of inhabiting the works of art we admire . . .

Lessons and Carols: A Meditation on Recovery – John West

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Offering readers an example of how to move through this process of creatively reshaping our identities, West gestures to the potential of each reader to experience rebirth and recovery. 

The Hive – Camilo José Cela

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For all its humor and moments of warmth, The Hive is a portrait of misery.

Epic Annette – Anne Weber

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Rather than gods atop Mount Olympus, the engine of dramatic irony may well be the voice of bitter experience.

Dear Outsiders – Jenny Sadre-Orafai

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Who lives in the beach town we visit every summer? Who works in, walks by, or rages at the souvenir shops?

Elixir – Lewis Warsh

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Elixir reminds us of the fullness of life, of melody, never a straight line, but rather a round, a chorus joyfully repeated again and again.

Saudade for a Breaking Heart – Kristen Lucia Renzi

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We cannot fully know saudade until our bodies experience pleasure’s phantom pangs.

No Way in the Skin without This Bloody Embrace – Jean D’Amérique

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. . . like something out of Ŝvankmajer: a tongue torn out and dragging itself along in search of contact and reintegration, streaking blood in its wake.

Singer Distance – Ethan Chatagnier

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Having self-elected into the contact genre, Chatagnier redirects Singer Distance away from the alien essence of this story form, suggesting that earthly issues more deserve our attention.

Baron Bagge – Alexander Lernet-Holenia

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It’s unclear (even to Bagge himself) if he is in a state of post-traumatic shock or whether he has even survived the battle.