Anne-Marie Kinney

This book is reminiscent of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender but not nearly as good. Iris and her brother Neil are both alienated from life. Neil is too intense, Iris's heartbeat could barely register on a stethoscope. Iris wants to relate to Neil, Neil wants - what? Only to fly, I guess. In Lemon Cake the main character had taste as her only significant sense, Iris has hearing, particularly music, specifically - for a woman in her mid twenties - a love of Oldies. She loves dogs and dreams about her childhood pet nightly, but doesn't have a dog now - luckily for the canine species because Iris is so barely present in life that she could never remember for more than an hour or two to take care of another living creature. I think Anne-Marie Kinney worked hard on this little book. She must have a cadre of people who think she is talented, T. C. Boyle is her mentor; but her writing barely kept me awake. Yes there's an interesting surrealistic twist at the end, but by the time I got there, I just wanted the whole thing over.… (mere)