Suspicious River

Rating:
Summary: Great Novel
Review: A nearly perfect novel; a rare mixture of beautiful writing and logical, original story.It's clear Kasischke honed her skill as a poet; the language is just that concise. The opening paragraph is one of the best I've ever read. I was hooked from that moment on. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A haunting story
Review: Although I finished this book several months ago the story of Leila's life has stayed with me. This book is full of haunting dialogue, rich descriptions, interesting characters. Truly writing at its best! I adore books by Laura Kasischke and wish there were more novels by this amazing author.

Rating:
Summary: A haunting story
Review: Although I finished this book several months ago the story of Leila's life has stayed with me. This book is full of haunting dialogue, rich descriptions, interesting characters. Truly writing at its best! I adore books by Laura Kasischke and wish there were more novels by this amazing author.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, A Model Book for Teaching Writing
Review: I often use the opening line of this book as an example in creative and memoir writing classes that I teach of how an author can immediately capture the reader. This book keeps you breathlessly involved:the extraordinary language, its simplicity, the compelling character. A stunning novel, or novelized memoir?

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, A Model Book for Teaching Writing
Review: I often use the opening line of this book as an example in creative and memoir writing classes that I teach of how an author can immediately capture the reader. This book keeps you breathlessly involved:the extraordinary language, its simplicity, the compelling character. A stunning novel, or novelized memoir?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Work
Review: I read a review, one of the short reviews in the in the New Yorker that are more descriptive than judgemental, many years ago. I only remembered it was intriguing but I bought it recently and read it on this vacation (I am in Mexico as I write). I agree with some reviews that have compared it with Joyce Carol Oates but I would also throw in some other gritty books; Laplante's Cold Shoulder (she wrote the original scripts for the hit TV show Prime Suspect) and Amis' Night Train. The book alternates between the rugged life the central character lives today and her tortured past that continues to haunt her. And yes, have we discussed that she is a poet? I don't have an background in literature and I don't really know anything about poetry (though some of my best friends are poets) but it would appear as though poets do have an excellent command of our language and can use it to great advantage. So if you like grit and you like a talented writer please check this out.

I wanted to point out that Ms. Kasischke spoke at the 1999 Michigan Writers Series. Her discussion of this book and some of her poetry can be found via a search for the Michigan State University Libraries.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Work
Review: I read a review, one of the short reviews in the in the New Yorker that are more descriptive than judgemental, many years ago. I only remembered it was intriguing but I bought it recently and read it on this vacation (I am in Mexico as I write). I agree with some reviews that have compared it with Joyce Carol Oates but I would also throw in some other gritty books; Laplante's Cold Shoulder (she wrote the original scripts for the hit TV show Prime Suspect) and Amis' Night Train. The book alternates between the rugged life the central character lives today and her tortured past that continues to haunt her. And yes, have we discussed that she is a poet? I don't have an background in literature and I don't really know anything about poetry (though some of my best friends are poets) but it would appear as though poets do have an excellent command of our language and can use it to great advantage. So if you like grit and you like a talented writer please check this out.

I wanted to point out that Ms. Kasischke spoke at the 1999 Michigan Writers Series. Her discussion of this book and some of her poetry can be found via a search for the Michigan State University Libraries.

Rating:
Summary: tough
Review: i read this book about four years aGo -- picked it up in the NYU library on my lunch break, and it's stayed in my head ever since. tough, uncompromisinG, perfect. really want to read more from laura kasischke.

Rating:
Summary: OVERSTATED
Review: It is obvious that the author is a poet, because her prose in Suspicious River is lovely and lyrical. I heard this book on tape, and the audiotape does a fine job of vocalizing the narrative. Sometimes the story is so dismal or oppressive that the reader/listener needs a pause from the main character, Leila. But it is this protagonist who makes the novel so riveting -- she is almost totally dissocated from her actions and body, and it seems that the reader cares what happens to her more than Leila does herself. Leila details the setting in beautiful images, yet she cannot connect with other people or herself. Her experience of a gust of wind or the whisper of a feather is more significant or real to her than any of the many sexual encounters. She is emotionally dead, but the reader wants her to connect, save herself, be saved from her motto: "It was just my body." This book is a wrenching experience full of gorgeous language.

Rating:
Summary: Hate her, love her
Review: You hate her, you love her, but in the end, you don't want her dead. Leila is such a punching bag you ask yourself why you care so very very much. Because you do care. I guess it takes a poet like Kasischke to make Leila's world real, and it takes more than mere wordcraft to grab you by the hair on the back of your neck and twist.

Because that's the feeling you get as Leila starts to wake up and run from her demons.