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Title: i am fat from the honey of her prose
Review: This book is hot. There is heat, and there is fire. I agree with others...the later stories do not compel as the early. Even in "River of Names," the scenes between the persona and the lover make me cringe--it seems like too much of a Device. Without those parts, "River of Names" is layered and astonishing. Sure, shocking, too, if your childhood is not full of dead cousins, but I am using "astonishing" to describe the grace of Allison's prose. She picks you up and drops you into each episode...lets you fall through it like you're in it. Only to catch (you, caught, are breathless) and drop again. "Gospel Song" is the real heat. So hot you oughta know it'll end with real flames.
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