Drought & Say What You Like
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Book Overview
Debra Di Blasi writes from the heart of the Postmodern American Gothic. A native Missourian, she plumbs the depths of psychosexual repercussion and searing sentiment behind the region's parched, pitchfork-bearing fa?ade. Though her writing has been widely published in literary journals, Drought , paired here with a second novella, Say What You Like , is a stunning first foray into book form. In Drought , Di Blasi dissects a young couple's relationship on a failing cattle ranch, allowing us to see all the subcutaneous mental and physical violence they endure. As unceasing heat kills the couple's livestock, Di Blasi focuses a science writer's exactitude and a poet's charged restraint on the human cost of rural tragedy. Say What You Like offers an even more ruthless examination of a couple's deep-seated pain. Pared down to short, numbered sections, the relationship of a nameless "He" and "She" is laid bare by Di Blasi's unflinching skill with the scalpel. Debra Di Blasi is a daring young writer of the top order.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0811213323
ISBN13:9780811213325
Release Date:February 1997
Publisher:New Directions Publishing Corporation
Length:89 Pages
Weight:0.25 lbs.
Dimensions:0.3" x 5.2" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
Postmodern American Gothic
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
The review title is borrowed from the blurb on the back of the paperback. It is as good a description of this unique writing style as you will get. The list of poems making up Drought is a bit misleading - in general the segments are prose poems ... or prose. However, there is a narrative line - a very powerful tale of the death of a relationship within the stress of drought.The second piece "Say what you like" is less memorable than "Drought". In this case the relationship includes abuse - and when the relationship disolves the identity of the individuals is rendered uncertain in the best postmodern style.A new poet/author's whose work is well worth watching.
This one must be experienced.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
Half prose, and half poetry, this story is hard to categorize as far as form. But it grabs you, as does the style and voice. It grips you and won't let you turn away. After finishing this story, and it is a short read, I started right back in on it, to see if what had just happened, actually happened.
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