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Title: This is a terrific book.
Review: In a voice that's distinctive and marvelously quirky, the author tells tales of domestic life that dance on the edge of the absurd but resonate with essential truth. The voice is so quirky that it would be easy for it to go over the top, or become cloying, but it never does. Lehner delights not just in chasing absurdities to comic lengths, but in playing with the language -- and while it can be irritating when writers toss in fancy words, it doesn't here. She's not showing off; she's rejoicing in the richness of the language. My favorite is a tale about a knife that seems to have a malicious mind of its own, but the story of a phantom limb runs a close second. And, throughout, these odd saints keep appearing, to delightful effect.
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