Janisse Ray could have taken the easy way out. She could have produced a manual for writers that offers up her secrets of scene-building, dialogue, narrative tension—the usual stuff. She could have stuck to the basics, and her legion of fans would have eaten up this book, anyway. Ray, however, did not take the easy […]
Blackened Beauty: A Review of William Woolfitt’s “The Night the Rain Had Nowhere to Go”
October 9, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Every once in a great while, a reader encounters a collection of poetry that leaves a pleasantly gritty residue in the mind. Such is the case with William Woolfitt’s The Night the Rain Had Nowhere to Go (Belle Point Press 2024). In sixty pages, hard labor, stark poverty, tragic history, and environmental dystopia blend with […]
“The Book of Sorrows” by Kenneth Robbins
October 8, 2024 by Leave a Comment
The Book of Sorrows (Southern Arizona Press 2023), by professor, author, and playwright Kenneth Robbins, is a brave and sometimes acerbic retelling of portions of the Old Testament in verse form. Brave, because it must have been a difficult undertaking to recast Old Testament stories as poems with modern sensibilities. Brave also because some readers […]
“Between the Sound and Sea” by Amanda Cox
October 8, 2024 by Leave a Comment
How does one deal with crushing regret and unresolved grief? How do broken families heal? And what is required for personal fears to be overcome? These and other questions thread their way through Amanda Cox’s Between the Sound and Sea (Revel, 2024), a narrative of mystery and romance. The story centers around Josephina Harris, who goes […]
“Say Hello to My Little Friend” by Jennine Capo Crucet
October 2, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Readers might never want to visit attractions featuring trained, captive orca whales after reading Say Hello to My Little Friend (Simon & Schuster 2024) by Jennine Capo Crucet, and this intense, haunting novel establishes why that would be a good thing. Which is to say, though the book focuses also on Cuban youths Ismael Reyes, […]
“Daughters of Chaos” by Jen Fawkes
October 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Daughters of Chaos (Overlook Press 2024) by Jen Fawkes begins at the end, in 1877, with Sylvie’s graveside promise to her longtime partner: “ ‘I’m going to write it all down, Hannah,’ I said as I knelt beside her grave, my fingertips piercing the cool earth. ‘Maybe I’ll give it to the girls. Maybe I […]