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HIGH FIVE!
HIGH FIVE! to five women writers who share their perspectives on family, sex, love, loss, memory, potential prime ministers, dark streets, bizarre jukeboxes, suspicious curtains, phantom cars, desire and men in garages.
117 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 19, 2022
I try to read at least one book from each country I visit, preferably by (a) female author(s). V glad to have found this in the Ernster All English Bookshop in Luxembourg City!
Overall, a lively and discerning anthology of prose, poems and a play. The publisher delivered well on their stated aim, "[to provide] different perspectives but at the same time the intensity of contact between each author and her readers".
My favourite section was the poetry from Wendy Winn, all of which I enjoyed, and the frenetic urgency of Joanna Easter's play.
Overall, a lively and discerning anthology of prose, poems and a play. The publisher delivered well on their stated aim, "[to provide] different perspectives but at the same time the intensity of contact between each author and her readers".
My favourite section was the poetry from Wendy Winn, all of which I enjoyed, and the frenetic urgency of Joanna Easter's play.
October 16, 2019
Released in the year that Luxembourg marked 100 years since introducing universal suffrage, I would have hoped for more from this collection of works by five women authors based in Luxembourg. It is less of a collection than a random assortment with little that brings the works together, except that they all reflect women's experiencing (which, considering that it's women authors isn't difficult to achieve). From a dramatic monologue (that was performed as a stage play), we switch to poems, a short story, poems and more poems.
The themes are not without merit. Larisa Faber in her stage show tackles fertility and abortion, wanting or not wanting children. But what works well on the stage (in a style that is somewhat reminiscent of the foulmouthed Fleabag) does not necessarily jump off the page. Joanna Easter's short story about an unexpected journey home builds up to a dramatic climax but then leaves the reader hanging. Wendy Winn's collection of poems deals with parenthood and losing one's own parents, while Cecile Somers Dr Alzheimer's Jukebox quite literally asks more questions than it answers.
For anyone wishing to take a tour of Luxembourg's literary scene, this booklet will be a nice read but, personally, I think it could have done with some polishing.
The themes are not without merit. Larisa Faber in her stage show tackles fertility and abortion, wanting or not wanting children. But what works well on the stage (in a style that is somewhat reminiscent of the foulmouthed Fleabag) does not necessarily jump off the page. Joanna Easter's short story about an unexpected journey home builds up to a dramatic climax but then leaves the reader hanging. Wendy Winn's collection of poems deals with parenthood and losing one's own parents, while Cecile Somers Dr Alzheimer's Jukebox quite literally asks more questions than it answers.
For anyone wishing to take a tour of Luxembourg's literary scene, this booklet will be a nice read but, personally, I think it could have done with some polishing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews