Say This

Description

Two crystalline novellas linked by one devastating crime:Say Thisis an immersive meditation on the interplay between memory, trauma, and narrative.Its a cold spring in Baltimore, 2018, when the email arrives: the celebrity journalist hopes Eva will tell him everything about the sexual affair she had as a teen with her older cousin, a man now in federal prison for murder. Thirteen years earlier, Lenore-May answers the phone to the nightmare news that her stepsons body has been found near Mount Hood, and homicide is suspected. Following Evas unsettling ambivalence towards her confusing relationship, and constructing a portrait of her cousins victim via collaged perspectives of the slain mans family, these two linked novellas borrow, interrogate, sometimes dismantle the tropes of true crime; lyrically render the experiences of grief and dissociation; and brilliantly mine the fault lines of power and consent, silence, justice, accountability, and class.Say Thisis a startling exploration of the devastating effects of trauma on personal identity.Praise forSay ThisSay Thisis a breathtaking, daring exploration of that constancy, of the lingering power of trauma, and the roots and branches of violence and despair.Toronto StarLevine addresses questions of identity and the impact of violence as well as addiction, consent, and societys exploitation of trauma, and does so in gorgeous, surprising, and utterly gripping prose.Elizabeth Hazen,Baltimore FishbowlElise Levine is a taut and musical writer who experiments boldly and beautifully with form. The fragments of story here refract like a prism, bending and catching the complexity of her characters experiences. This is an arresting and powerful book.Alix Ohlin, author ofDual CitizensandWe Want What We WantEvery page of Elise LevinesSay Thisis a meticulously crafted, crystalline work of high art. These two novellas, fragmented and fractured in a manner that perfectly captures our present reality, are sharp and poetic, suspenseful and engaging. Everything one requires of the best narrative fiction is here, all told in gorgeous prose that commands your attention at every turn.Robert Lopez, author ofAll Back FullElise Levines brilliantSay Thisexamines the damage inflicted by one mans life and another mans death, as experienced by the people they left behind. Intimate, provocative, and deeply unsettling in their power, these interconnected novellas showcase Levines gift for telling stories that readers cant look away from, wrapped in prose so beautiful and precise.Jung Yun, Author ofShelterandO BeautifulPraise for Elise LevineLevine 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 GowdyElise 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 FictionElise 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 ReviewsLevine 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 StarReading Elise Levine is akin to a wild ride down a dark road at nightBold and startlingPrecipitous and exhilarating.Globe and Mail