The collection is a welcome reminder that literature can be not only a showcase for polished, refined sentiment but also an arena in which both reader and writer grapple — with imminent challenges, with their own psyches, with the uncertainty of survival ... Dunn’s pieces have an almost irrepressible kinetic energy ... While there are some pieces in the collection that are only single-round bouts...they cut to the quick of life and highlight the struggle for survival even in cultivated, orderly spaces. Her fascination with the mechanics of thinking and acting when few options exist lends her characters’ efforts a gravity that is wholly without sentimentality or overseriousness. That quality, in itself, is a knockout punch.
The stories offer a wide array of style and substance ... Generally hold up despite revealing their age. There does seem a haphazardness to pulling them together, but it’s inevitable with a posthumous collection of stories ... For the enthusiasts who have created Dunn’s status as a cult icon, no doubt this collection will fulfill their desire for a complete body of work. Individually, the stories are tightly edited narratives exploring a variety of themes, but they lack the cohesion we’ve come to expect in story collections.
The strong temptation of an autobiographical reading does make it all the more admirable that Near Flesh instead invites us to take in Dunn’s short fiction on its own terms—to examine the collection in direct sunlight, beyond the long shadows of Geek Love and Dunn’s lived experience. Happily, the 18 stories gathered here (two-thirds of which have not been previously published) hold up to the scrutiny ... Even—especially—at its most grotesque, Dunn’s prose has a real verve to it ... It’s a tall order, reinventing English and all, but one that Near Flesh often delivers on.
