Girl With the Bottichelli Face

If you haven't read Valgardson before, try to read some of his short story collections first - GOD IS NOT A FISH INSPECTOR, BLOODFLOWERS, RED DUST, WHAT CAN"T BE CHANGED SHOULDN'T BE MOURNED - especially the latter "What Can't Be Changed..." They will somewhat prepare you for Mr. Valgardson's style and context. Nevertheless, BOTTICHELLI surprised me, shocked me, sucked me in, and ultimately was devastating in a way that Mr. Valgardson seems to have a knack for. And in amongst this are also effective images and actions that are often hysterical - sometimes the painful kind of humor of uneasy recognition, and other times just simply fun. This work comes across as more intimately revealing and personal than most of what I had read of Valgardson before. The protagonist goes through a range of emotions and experiences that may not endear him to all readers, but is nevertheless insightful, revealing, and captivating. He articulates many things that are clearly not politically comfortable, and this refusal by the protagonist to coach his feelings in safe terminology, but instead being brutally honest about his midlife fantasies and nightmares and new priorities. But it should not be dismissed as a midlife crisis tale. If you do not like the protagonist, he'll still be fascinating, and will cause you to question your feelings on the sexual dichotomies of our culture. Valgardson's writing is effective in a way that I respond to when reading the works of Margaret Atwood (another great Canadian) and Jerzy Kosinski. This is so much a more mature work than his GENTLE SINNERS. I discovered Valgardson while living in Canada, and hope that more people south of the border discover him. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition

If you haven't read Valgardson before, try to read some of his short story collections first - GOD IS NOT A FISH INSPECTOR, BLOODFLOWERS, RED DUST, WHAT CAN"T BE CHANGED SHOULDN'T BE MOURNED - especially the latter "What Can't Be Changed..." They will somewhat prepare you for Mr. Valgardson's style and context. Nevertheless, BOTTICHELLI surprised me, shocked me, sucked me in, and ultimately was devastating in a way that Mr. Valgardson seems to have a knack for. And in amongst this are effective images and actions that are often hysterical - sometimes the painful kind of humor of uneasy recognition, and other times just simply funny. This work comes cross as more intimately revealing and personal than most of what I had read of Valgardson before. The protagonist goes through a range of emotions and experiences that may not endear him to all readers, but is nevertheless insightful, revealing, and captivating. He articulates many things that are clearly not politically comfortable, and this refusal by the protagonist to coach his feelings in safe terminology, but instead being brutally honest about his midlife fantasies and nightmares and new priorities. But it should not be dismissed as a midlife crisis tale. If you do not like the protagonist, he'll still be fascinating, and will cause you to question your feelings on the sexual dichotomies of our culture. Valgardson's writing is effective in a way that I respond to when reading the works of Margaret Atwood (another great Canadian) and Jerzy Kosinski. This is so much a more mature work than his GENTLE SINNERS. I discovered Valgardson while living in Canada, and hope that more people south of the border discover him.