Review by Emily Webber Lee Upton is a prolific writer with short story collections, poetry books, novels, and even a libretto among her published works. Now with her latest work, Wrongful, she adds a literary mystery to the list. The…
Browsing: Reviews
MER Bookshelf – March 2025 Curated by Melissa Joplin Higley Lynn McGee, Science Says Yes, Broadstone Books, January 2025, poetry Science Says Yes by Lynn McGee addresses human empathy and resilience in relation to nature, advances in technology…
Review by Nicelle Davis Beyond Survival: Nadia Alexis’s Testament to Love, Memory, and Reclamation Beyond the Watershed by Nadia Alexis is not just a collection of poetry and photography—it is a haunting echo of lineage, an unflinching dialogue between…
Review by Meghan Miraglia “[W]hat comes after the last word”: A review of Hortensia, in winter The first line of Megan Merchant’s Hortensia, in winter is a damn good one: “I want to ask the hard questions, but…
Review by DeMisty D. Bellinger In her latest chapbook, Gala, Lynne Shapiro melds persona and ekphrasis in an extended look at David Salle’s work and woman as artistic subject, especially in the painting “The Black Bra.” The poems offer…
Review by Rachel Lutwick-Deaner Flu Season is Katie Kalisz’s second poetry collection, following Quiet Woman (2019) and those readers who appreciate her previous attention to the stillness and sweetness of life will not be disappointed. Flu Season examines the…
Review by Constance Clark To evoke mother in our thoughts and emotions, rarely do we think of fluidity. More often, stops and starts, bumps in the road, outright rage. I suppose, continuous flow of love could be the anomaly…
Review by Emily Webber Hotel Impala, Pat Spears’s third novel, tackles a trio of American catastrophes—mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. Her work typically features characters on the margins of society, who many would label as failures and deadbeats, always…
Review by Rebecca Jane A Slow Indwelling features two courageous voices that confront pain with poetry. Megan Merchant, a recent winner of the New American Book Prize and author of Hortensia, in Winter weaves her insights about blood, longing,…
Review by Mindy Kronenberg Adrie Rose’s Rupture arrives at a time of profound concern for women’s health issues, and her journey of dealing with an ectopic pregnancy brings a poignant and painful lens to the intricate and intimate details of…