Tag: Sam Price

  • Thrown, by Kerry Howley

    Thrown, by Kerry Howley

    “Does not every human story open midscene?” The majority of narratives offered to us about athletes are constructed with an absolute disregard for complexity or nuance and are, rather, woven neatly together in ways that simplify and obscure reality. Information is instead dispersed, largely, in the form of amazing yet incoherent SportsCenter clips or articles…

  • The Shimmering Go-Between, by Lee Klein

    The Shimmering Go-Between, by Lee Klein

    Lee Klein’s The Shimmering Go-Between asks for no spoilers on the jacket copy. A piece of paper lodged in the review copy almost demands it. Mostly I’d argue that all plots have been seen before (this argument in itself is simply a rehash of one made many times before by other, more scholarly people, who…

  • The Last Days of California, a novel by Mary Miller, reviewed by Sam Price

    The Last Days of California, a novel by Mary Miller, reviewed by Sam Price

    There’s a theory in neuroscience that brains “couple” when undergoing successful communication. The speaker’s brain will utilize its portions that are necessary for speech production while the listener, with a slight delay, uses the portions that are necessary for speech comprehension. If the brains aren’t “coupled,” there is little retained knowledge in the listener, even…

  • Chelsea Martin’s Even Though I Don’t Miss You: Love Songs are Always Written in Solitude

    Chelsea Martin’s Even Though I Don’t Miss You: Love Songs are Always Written in Solitude

    And good poems are often written from bad places. This book of poems by Chelsea Martin is both a re-examination of a failed relationship and a kind of addendum. Martin’s protagonist isn’t working to get the last word like a selfish lover hoping to exonerate herself, but more like a sociologist interested in her behavior…