A review by kerrianne
Nouns of Assemblage by Janey Smith, D.J. Berndt, Kevin Sampsell, Joseph Riippi, Kirsten Alene Pierce, Frank Hinton, Tyler Gobble, Tom DeBeauchamp, Ben Tanzer, Ryan Boyd, Mike Topp, Bradley Sands, Hazel Cummings, J. Bradley, Crispin Best, Caitlin Laura Galway, Carrie Seitzinger, Michael Kimball, Stephen Tully Dierks, Y.T. Sumner, Matthew Simmons, Poncho Martinez, xTx, Ted Powers, Ryan W. Bradley, Christy Crutchfield, Riley Michael Parker, Len Kuntz, Jess Dutschmann, Matty Byloos, Jim Ruland, Nate Quiroga, David Tomaloff, Willie Fitzgerald, Mel Bosworth, Colleen Elizabeth Rowley, Robert Vaughan, Megan Lent, Lindsay Allison Ruoff, Frances Dinger, Robert Duncan Gray, Peter Schwartz, Jamie Iredell, Jarrid Deaton, David Drury, Robyn Bateman, David Doc Luben, maurice burford, Andrew Borgstrom, Suzanne Burns
3.0
Preface: This was a tricky review for me to write, if only because it was not without some personal bias I approached this collection. See, my Oh So Lovely And Favorite Cousin Frances (E. Dinger) has words living within the front and back covers of this book, and I give her five stars for (existing, yes, and) being one of the most wonderful women I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and since she's started telling her stories I've enjoyed reading them in the various places she chooses to share them, and this was no exception.
My take on the book as a whole: While the premise of the collection was an undoubtedly interesting (and seemingly cohesive) one, more often than not, the execution of the individual pieces failed to rise to the collective occasion. I think that particular disconnect-between prompt(s) given and submissions received-is an undeniable risk, and one taken every time you're compiling a collection this large with this many separate and very distinct voices, telling separate and very distinct stories.
My primary issues:1. The prompts were just vague enough to inspire creativity, but not focused enough to ensure the respective writers were actually saying something. Saying anything, in quite a few cases. 2. I was looking for, and ultimately really needed, a bit of back-story as to why the specific prompts were chosen. Why did we suddenly have entire sections designated as "A Tower of Giraffe" and "An Abomination of Platypus" when before we only had sections delineated by larger sub-sections of species ("Birds", "Reptiles and Amphibians", "Mammals" etc. etc.)?
Which is to say: A collection can only go so far as an inside joke between itself and its writers only.
[Three stars for so much potential, and an unexpected "choose your own adventure" story involving bats.]
My take on the book as a whole: While the premise of the collection was an undoubtedly interesting (and seemingly cohesive) one, more often than not, the execution of the individual pieces failed to rise to the collective occasion. I think that particular disconnect-between prompt(s) given and submissions received-is an undeniable risk, and one taken every time you're compiling a collection this large with this many separate and very distinct voices, telling separate and very distinct stories.
My primary issues:
Which is to say: A collection can only go so far as an inside joke between itself and its writers only.
[Three stars for so much potential, and an unexpected "choose your own adventure" story involving bats.]