The book is short but the review is not. That's the beauty of a web-based review journal. Instead of the usual dreary summary of the book followed by a few quick lines of judgement, I dragged in all sorts of topics. I had fun with discussing how Why Be Happy is a palimpsest of her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Winterson's discovery that books are extra-somatic culture; why constraint is necessary for all forms of literature; the way poetry works emotionally; why narrative grammar is every writer's friend, and more.
I'd love to know what you think, either at LARB or in the comments here.
This blog has moved.
My blog now lives here:
http://nicolagriffith.com/blog/
