This Week’s Reviews

Cockfight
Maria Fernanda Ampuero, trans. Frances Riddle | The Feminist Press at CUNY | 9781936932825 | May 2020
“Deftly written with spare, exacting prose, Cockfight is a masterful collection.”—Latino Book Review

Sex Death Enlightenment
Mark Matousek | Monkfish Book Publishing | 9781948626255 | September 2020
“This page-turning account of Matousek’s hard and often terrifying childhood…. and the path of his spiritual journey make for an engaging and enlightening reading experience. In the pages of this candid and courageous account of one man’s expansive search for spiritual meaning are profound messages of inspiration and hope. Something we could all use today.”—Chronogram

A Kabbalah of Food: Stories, Teachings and Recipes
Rabbi Hanoch Hecht | Monkfish Book Publishing | 9781948626316 | November 2020
“Truly a book about nourishing the soul.”—Chronogram

Pass with Care
Cooper Bombardier | Dottir Press | 9781948340212 | June 2020
“A necessary and important glimpse into a living trans history as Bombardier explores how much the world has changed and made room for trans people, while also introducing us to how Bombardier came to be the man he is today. For those who would like a peek into a more complicated and nuanced narrative of being queer and trans, read with the same care that Bombardier has lovingly written into every sentence.”

The Piano Student
Lea Singer, trans. Elisabeth Lauffer | New Vessel Press | 9781939931863 | October 2020
“The illicit love affair of world-famous piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz and the less successful pianist Nico Kaufmann is recreated vividly in Lea Singer’s The Piano Student … Singer has written a compelling story, interweaving history, music, and psychological intrigues that accompany purposely hidden romantic involvements.”—The Gay and Lesbian Review
“Beauty and the loftiest ideals collide with the hypocrisy, shame, self-hatred, cruelty, betrayal, fear, reckless lust, and, perhaps worst of all, the thwarted love inherent in an affair walled in by the mortal dangers of social and familial ostracism. . . . Throughout its telling, Singer maintains an elegance and depth that will leave the reader pondering the nature of personal courage and how—or whether—life and maturity can ever bring into harmony art, ambition, and love.”—Historical Novels Review
“The nov­el draws out many themes that res­onate in today’s world on the nature of sex­u­al iden­ti­ty and art, espe­cial­ly the rela­tion­ship between pas­sion and art and suf­fer­ing and cre­ativ­i­ty. . . . Presents its themes with sen­si­tiv­i­ty and restraint … The Piano Stu­dent illu­mi­nates the sac­ri­fices artists make for their art.”—The Jewish Book Council

Yi Sang: Selected Works
edit. Don Mee Choi, trans Jack Jung, Sawako Nakayasu, Don Mee Choi and Joyelle McSweeney | Wave Books | 9781950268085 | September 2020
“Herein lies the greatest virtue of Selected Works. It demonstrates how the legacy of a poet is always in the process of becoming, as their works are woven into new historical and socio-linguistic sites.”—Asymptote Journal

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