Dear Digby

by Carol Muske-Dukes

Willis Jane Digby, the Letters Editor at the feminist SIS magazine, attacks each day the stacks of letters from women depressed about their relationships with men and slowly becomes too involved with her writers

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 1989

About the author

Carol Muske-Dukes (born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1945) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and professor, and the former poet laureate of California (2008–2011). Her most recent book of poetry, Sparrow (Random House, 2003), chronicling the love and loss of Muske-Dukes’ late husband, actor David Dukes, was a National Book Award finalist.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lindsey Lawntea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. My review was not required to be positive. All thoughts and opinions expressed below are entirely my own. This review will also appear on NetGalley, Amazon, and my blog, Mediatron.

Willis Digby is not a boy, but she is the son her father never had. A feminist warrior on the frontlines of SIS Magazine, Digby cynically answers Letters to the Editor with a flick of her costume rabbit ears. When she strikes an unlikely friendship with a mental patient and letters from a potential stalker become threatening, Digby must confront the past that is keeping her from living in the present.

This book reminds me of my favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk in its unapologetically eccentric and profound storytelling. My copy was a temporary digital copy but I will need to get a physical copy for my bookshelf soon.

This book is so quotable that I had to pick just two instances where I laughed out loud, for fear that I would simply transcribe the novel in its entirety:

"...he was Born Again. I was not. I usually find that being born once is entirely sufficient for a person."

...he is still thankful that I am alive (as opposed to being, say, Republican)...

Hilarious, edgy, and unbelievably sentimental in the midst of 30+ mentionings of the term "seminal fluid," Muske-Dukes (herself a member of the hyphenated) illustrates the ways in which identity, sanity, beauty, and womanhood are all subjective.

[Beth Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

This creative and fun turn on the epistolary form gives us both sides of the mailbox. She managed to surprise me at the end, as I was half-expecting it to go a more traditional direction. This ending was better than I imagined, coming out of well-crafted characters and a twisting plot.

[Peggymca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing like a Miss Lonelyhearts. Letters to the Editor go from raw right into crazy. I almost quit, but she handled the story well. The main character has more to her than it first appears; some gratifying moments.