Like all ideas, the best ones are ripe to be stolen. Or maybe the best ones are the good ones stolen, then repackaged. But that would make this review the best one, which demerits Caleb’s. At any rate, this is a rip-off of Caleb’s review of Wolf Parts, featuring the equally as excellent AM/PM by Amelia Gray.
AM/PM is not a collection of stories; it is the pieces of life we glimpse between the blinds when passing a neighbor’s house.
AM:48- ‘Doreen sat naked at the table, uploading her photographs.’
AM/PM is not funny; it is the clever joke that, when it dawns on you the next day, the sky looks different.
AM:100- ‘Betty and Simon drove down the dirt road playing Amish or Vietnamish. “A Bible in every compartment,” he said. “A compartment in every Bible,” she said.”
AM/PM is not just condensing five months of a relationship into three sentences; it is opening our chests with a laugh in order to remove our hearts and show us how they beat.
101:PM- ‘She needed to make the decision to cut, because making the decision would bring instant pain and healing simultaneously. She was the kind of girl who climbed the tallest trees and cried to be let down, but was also the kind of girl who would scramble and jump down on her own as soon as someone went in for the ladder.’
AM:102- ‘”It’s been half an hour since I felt good about this situation.” “The sex?” He wondered when she might leave. “This whole situation. It’s been about thirty-two minutes.” […] She rolled onto the floor and covered her breasts with a phone book. “Now I’m a rapist and a bad lay […] I teased you, you gave in. You gave in like it was prom night.” […] Missy was making some kind of extended moan from behind the phone book. Chet watched her chest heave. The phone book bobbed up and down with her breath. “We didn’t go to prom together,” he said.’
AM/PM is a book that I could quote, line after line; however, that would be a violation of copyright laws. Instead, buy the book and read it to the person sitting beside you on the couch, then watch the flickering behind their eyes.
I’ve heard so many great things about this book. I definitely need to pick this up.
[...] stuff at Outsider Writers Collective, a review of AM/PM. Thank-you to Nik [...]
Featherproof is amazing, and the book is great!
Great review Nik. I’ve been loving Amelia, linguistically that is, for years now. She’s a really unique voice. I know that Nik and I caught her reading “Go For It and Raise Hell” at the AWP Denver (read it here):
http://kneejerkmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:go-for-it-and-raise-hell-by-amelia-gray&catid=13:stories
Her next book, Museume of the Weird will be out with FC2. And Featherproof, here in Chicago, is awesome too, I’m really looking forward to Lindsay Hunters collection with them soon as well.