RaveZYZZYVAThere are times when the reader might assume they know where the story is going, but they will almost certainly be wrong. Thanks to its unpredictability and the absurdity of the characters, the story pulls us along. But as all of the violence and general unpleasantness pile up, what makes us stay is the narrator. Somewhat elusive but utterly present, the narrator is savvy to the who, what, and when, and is eager to share. Overtly opinionated, stupidly funny, easily sidetracked and incredibly gossipy, this voice effortlessly carries the novel ... Little Constructions feels incredibly urgent, like a tale told in seemingly one breath. And the distinct style Burns was noted for in Milkman is present in this 2007 novel. She writes prose that adopts the plain and conversational, but can just as easily turn sophisticated and analytical to the point of convolution. There is something painstaking about the details in this novel, and the desperate need to break everything down is palpable ... Unlike her characters, Burns does not shy away from the taboo or the weight of these topics that include murder and sexual assault. She looks at them head on, breaking apart the traumas of this town and examining its vicious cycle of gender violence, abuse, and fear.
Hilary Leichter
RaveZYZZYVALeichter displays a wonderful command of language. Every image jumps out with startling clarity. Even the mundane pops on the page, brought sharply, oddly, into focus by the eager eyes of our narrator. And the writing proves just as innovative with sound—adding a twinge to everything written that makes the strangeness of it all that much more apparent and intriguing. Leichter has taken the world of jobs and hurdles we know too well, and put it on the page for us in a way that makes it new. It is a strange, hilarious, and fantastical book about work, about our dreams and all the related burdens that burrow into our hearts.
Crissy Van Meter
RaveZYZZYVABoth lyrical and succinct, Creatures is acutely immersed in its setting. Van Meter transports the reader to Winter Island, capturing not only the volatile and brutal nature of the ocean, but the wonder and awe of it, too. The author’s grip on this physical space, together with the distinctiveness of Evie’s voice, allows for daring temporal leaps through the narrator’s life. Though the shifts in time in conjunction with Evie’s research notes can prove jarring and feel at times a bit performative, on the whole Van Meter is able to master this complicated structure for a powerful story.
Sayed Kashua
PositiveZYZZYVASaeed is not always an inviting narrator. He often withholds the most essential parts of his story, sprinkling them in fragments throughout the novel, sometimes without context. He is unabashadley self-pitying and self-loathing, and on the whole, not willing to put forth any effort to improve his situation. This stillness, as one might suspect, inevitably results in stagnation. But for all his faults, he means well ... With its focus on storytelling, Track Changes reads as a love letter of sorts to the imagination and the act of writing ... a dark read, one that offers a detailed look at a man stretched too thin and the demons that weigh him down. But what Kashua brings to the page is well worth experiencing. The novel’s structure and language bring gut-wrenching beauty and unimagined complexity to a life that may have otherwise seemed stripped of it.
