Greg Walklin

My review of Fernanda Melchor’s fabulous collection of nonfiction “This Is Not Miami,” has appeared over at Literal Magazine. Here’s a sample from the piece:

The best stories seduce. They draw you in and make you fall for them, become infatuated with them, and you lose focus on the rest of the world and only want to know what is going to happen next, what the character will say or do, how the story will end. You stay up late. Neglect your family, your work, your other hobbies. You breathe only at the periods.

Fernanda Melchor is no stranger to such seduction. 

This one of the best books I’ve reviewed recently, and I highly recommend you check it out.

My review of “Ischia” by Gisela Heffes is now live over at Literal Magazine. From the review:

“Ischia,” Gisela Heffes’ novel–originally published in 2000, and now available in an English translation by Grady C. Wray—is constituted of almost entirely of the stories the unnamed narrator tells herself. These are fictional stories with the novel, where the narrator imagines elaborate scenarios that might—though probably won’t—happen. The book asks us to consider the role that our own storytelling, and our own fantasies, play in our lives.

This book can be difficult to read at times, but it’s unique and provides a twist on storytelling that I’d been looking for.