Word: readerly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...there is a common thread in Stallings’ rather diverse themes, it is that Stallings deftly takes something that the reader (presumably) knows well and uses it to reflect on a deeper philosophical theme. The well-known story of Penelope, for example, is turned on its heels as Stallings reflects on relationships and fidelity; In a poem entitled “The Dogdom of the Dead,” Stallings draws some remarkable parallels between the deceased and pet dogs in order to reflect on how we are affected by the death of loved ones...
That would have been the end of it if Starobin’s boyfriend, “an avid reader,” hadn’t read Stephen King’s Desperation and left it lying around their apartment waiting to be thrown away. Starobin picked it up and her spirits plummeted...
...look, style and ethos, and his sometimes sympathetic, often scathing view of the Western interlopers. His writing is swift, often poetic, unerringly exact with voices and subtle details of time, weather and place. This novel is so complete a distillation of its theme and characters that it leaves a reader wondering how on earth Phillips can follow it up...This brilliant book seems certain to be widely and admiringly reviewed...the most memorable fiction debut of the year to date...
...Many of you felt that the scariest person in our cover photo was not the man firing his gun. "The most unsettling character is the man in the background, casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed," wrote a reader from Michigan. "How many people would strike that pose if a gun were being fired in front of them?" A Florida reader agreed, observing, "The person leaning nonchalantly against the wall has an almost grotesque attitude, the resigned acceptance of a checkout delay at the grocery store. This is a world I cannot comprehend...
...deft combination of gravitas and chattiness. Baker himself is heard from frequently, though his remarks aren't always all that satisfying. Is he a complex and tormented visionary, a sage victimized by his own abilities or just another jerk in ceremonial robes? Ultimately, Downing leaves the decision to the reader. There are really no completely clean, morally unambiguous figures in Downing's story?and that includes even Shunryu Suzuki himself, who, wise and lovable as he might have been, certainly suffered from his own distinctive set of follies and foibles. Evangelizing America, it turns out, was only part...