NCLR will share a “new” book review weekly: usually from the most recent or forthcoming online issue, but sometimes, in recognition of current events, from a back issue.
In this review by Robert West from 2021, he says about Flynn’s last book, The Skin of Meaning: “In other words, if you’re looking for neoclassical argument, dry stand-up comedy, or inspirational pablum, look elsewhere.”
So it’s fitting that Coby starts his review with “Michael Parker is a master at forming engaging, thought-provoking, and all around remarkable characters.”
“The last stanza likens women’s roles to a patchwork quilt: “The responsibility of being Native woman was placed upon / Her shoulders at birth, / Blanketed – like a patchwork quilt – around her body”
“…in this collection, Becker allows readers to engage with the Cherokee past and how it bleeds into a present-day North Carolina, reminding us of a long ago home.”
“Collected Poems of Marty Silverthorne is the tenth compilation of poetry from a man whose writing supported his own healing as it showed the world a quadriplegic person’s capabilities.” Godwin writes.
“Their experiences transform a typical coming-of-age novel into one that exhibits the coming of not just knowledge but wisdom, revealing the novel’s power to develop universal themes, deepening its significance for readers.”
“The core of What a Wonderful Life This Could Be is humanity’s need for the safe harbor and connection of love – for community and purposeful vocation and for some form of family, even if not biological.”
“Grimsley’s allusions to multiple sorts of 1970s queerness evidence his continued interest in parallel times and in terms that evoke the slippery and shifting interpretations and possibilities in our world….”
“These poems give moving and powerful testimony to what Carolyn Forché calls ‘the poetry of witness’ – a ritual act of reconciliation through language; a renewed sense of shared humanity and righteous resistance; and, perhaps most importantly, a sacred vow to never forget.”
Reviewer Heather Bell Adams says about his latest novel that “The reader is invited to speculate about the source of Connor’s discontent by assembling pieces of the puzzle from artfully arranged vignettes told in Whisnant’s crisp, muscular prose.”