Amber Sparks at Vouched Books reviews Julianna Spallholz’s fiction debut, The State Of Kansas (GenPop Books, 2012). Being fans of Sparks’s own fiction, it’s something of a double honor for all of us here at GenPop.
“If Lydia Davis knew more people who hung out shirtless in small places and owned pitbulls instead of pedigreed cats, her stories might look at little like Julianna Spallholz’s,” writes Sparks. “Lucky for us, we’ve already got Julianna Spallholz to write those stories.”
Sparks also highlights Spallholz’s “lovely use of language, of repetition, of sing-song-ness” imparting “a fable-like quality to the rather sharp and subtle observations she makes throughout these short pieces” wherein various narrators “expose their own isolation…in blink-and-you-miss-it observation[s] both funny and sad.”
The State of Kansas is “a wonderful, lush read by a drily witty writer,” says Sparks.
We couldn’t agree more. Please visit Vouched Books and read the full review.
& If you haven’t already, click here to look inside, or to buy, a copy of The State Of Kansas. (Also available at Amazon).
