This Wicked Tongue (Trade Paper)

Description

An A.V. Club Book to Read for June 2019In moments of exile and self-exile, exodus and return, Elise Levines uncanny narratives lay bare the secret grammar of their characters psyches. An ill-tempered divinity-school candidate refuses to minister to a dying mans wife; a couple fails to connect as they tour an ersatz cave in the south of France; holy women grieve in medieval England, and a pregnant runaway hitches a ride with a Church leader of dubious intentions. Propelled by their longing for pasts that no longer exist, these reluctant Adams and contemporary Eves confront the unspoken, the maligned, the abject aspects of their inner geographies, mining them for gems that glint and scatter in the light. Uncompromising and honest, lyrical and wry,This Wicked Tonguedares to tell the truth about the places we have come from and the new ones we might find.PRAISE FORTHIS WICKED TONGUEIts been a long wait for fans of Elise Levines delicious short stories. But the wait was well worth it[This Wicked Tongue] delivers in spades. From the get-go, Levine demonstrates a boisterous command of language and an ability to seize the readers attentionher stories pry us open, revealing our secretly wounded places, finally acting as balm and salvation. Lucky us. Toronto StarLevine offers a vision and a language so poetically visceral and fiercely poignantso uniquely intelligentthat story after story I was in awe of her courage and artistry. Barbara GowdyEdgyconvey[s] themes of yearning and lossLevine demonstrates her ability as a wordsmith par excellence. Winnipeg Free PressElise Levine writes with a new and exciting type of lyric rhythm. These are stories with the beating heart of poems. Rion Amilcar Scott, winner of the 2017 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut FictionEach story inThis Wicked Tongueis powerful and vivid and packed with an emotional punch to the heart. Quill & Quire(starred review)Elise Levines startling sentences alternate between serrated sentiment and lyrical reverie, offering readers that rarest commoditygenuine surprise. Jeff Jackson, author ofDestroy All MonstersElise Levine uses language like a scalpel to cut to the nervy core of our inner life. Theres a restless desolation in these stories, perfectly poised against a wily, wry wit. This Wicked Tongue is wicked smart. Dawn Raffel,The Strange Case of Dr. CouneyTaut, musical sentencesa stylish, experimental collection. Kirkus ReviewsWonderfully dark, eerily atmosphericsharp, smart, thoughtful, and rendered in Levines customary powerhouse prose.Open BookPRAISE FOR ELISE LEVINEReading Elise Levine is akin to a wild ride down a dark road at nightBold and startlingPrecipitous and exhilarating.Globe and MailAs immersive, hyper-vivid and true as fiction ever gets.Lisa MooreA dazzling wordsmith, a lexical tease, Levine is like a kid let loose in a leaf pile, kicking up words for the sheer joy of watching them spin.Toronto StarA cutting-edge literary sensation.NOW MagazineOne of Canadas finest fiction writersLevine demonstrates a kind of incandescent knowing about human affairs which she deploys in stunningly nuanced passagesA sensitive, cagey dominatrix of literary form and human psychology.George Elliott Clarke,Mail StarAudaciousTheres hardly a word in [these stories] that doesnt weigh heavily, or doesnt have a bristling edge to it.Toronto StarLevines vivid language and unflinching exploration of people living on the edge of society will stay with you long after each story is readLevine is unafraid to experiment with language, voice, and form. Her explorations of humanity and the adventurous spirit of her work will keep the reader hooked, hesitating to turn the page but unable to resist the pull of her prose.St. JohnsEvening TelegramLevines writing is adventurous and braveTautly constructed and rigorously controlledQuill & QuireLevine is, undeniably, an outstanding wordsmith. Her writing style moves in multiple directions, making high stakes out of small movements while turning panic into poetry.Winnipeg ReviewTaut and direct, Elise Levines writing compresses the distance between art and audience, drawing a reader experientially through her fiction. Levine is a visceral imagist. Her fiction renders event indistinguishable from emotion, affecting the gut as fully as the mind.Ottawa CitizenLevine uses raw, hallucinatory prose to tell this curious story of a woman becoming undoneThe novels visceral wordplay, rough sexuality, and anguished depiction of survivors guilt are bound to captivate its audience. A transgressive, gut-wrenching portrayal of grief that asks what its like to drown.Kirkus ReviewsLevines spare language works brilliantly to capture both the vastness of the open water and the claustrophobic chaos of underwater caverns [as well as] a heightened, stylized canvas for Marilyns addictive natureThe result is a tale of self-destruction and hubrisabsolutely gripping.Numero CinqA vibrant mixture of intimate momentsBlue Fieldis an exploration of two selves coming together with the sea. Levines aquatic language is gorgeous, displaying her literary prowess.THIS MagazineNo reader can make his or her way through these stories and retain any kind of complacency.Calgary HeraldReading the novel is a sensation akin to drifting weightlessly beneath the surface of the textdazzling, textured, tightly woven.Music and LiteratureLevine exposes the roughness and the crude pain of life. Its a rare writer who can write bluntly about the raw side of life while subtly leaving room for her readers to make their own, often disturbing connections.Books in Canada