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Fri, 11/06/2009 - 7:00pm
Poet and playwright Victor Lodato’s stunning debut novel, Mathilda Savitch, tells of a young girl trying to find out the truth behind her sister's death. Because her parents are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. In Lydia Millet’s new story collection, Love In Infant Monkeys, Komodo dragons, lions, dogs, monkeys and pheasants all share spotlights and tabloid headlines with celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Thomas Edison, and David Hasselhoff. Millet hilariously tweaks these unholy communions to run a stake through the heart of our fascination with famous people and pop culture.  Mathilda Savitch (Hardcover)$25.00 ISBN-13: 9780374204006Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 09/01/2009 "I want to be awful. I want to do awful things and why not? Dull is dull is dull is my life. So begins "Mathilda Savitch," a compelling page-turner and the debut of an extraordinary novelistic talent.
 Love in Infant Monkeys (Paperback)$14.95 ISBN-13: 9781593762520Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days Published: Soft Skull Press, 09/01/2009 These ten stories aim to erase the distinction between humans and animals. Humans are mostly represented here by celebrities, and Millet uses several real-life episodes of interspecies interaction as her starting point. She considers, for example, Thomas Edison's electrocution of the elephant Topsy and Jimmy Carter's humiliating encounter with a"killer rabbit." An author who has imagined a trailer-park denizen's quest to win the heart of the 41st president (George Bush, Dark Prince of Love, 2000) is clearly not afraid of high-concept fiction, and Millet has in the past handled potentially ridiculous conceits with mastery and verve. This time out, her use of celebrities never rises above a cute gimmick. The first story, for example, is a monologue that takes place inside Madonna's head after she shoots but fails to kill a pheasant on her English estate. The fictional Madge has no internal consistency. This problem runs throughout the collection. Drawing closer to our animal cousins seems to have robbed Millet of her once-prodigious capacity to depict—and to sympathize with—Homo sapiens. It's probably no coincidence that the collection's most compelling character is a dog walker who has intense regard for his charges and little but contempt for their owners. Bookmark/Search this post with: |
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