The Book of Dolores
"Whether or not it turns him on, whether or not it makes him feel more  like, or better than, himself, becoming Dolores in words and images  gives Vollmann one more way to say that his own world is what he can  make it."-Stephen Burt,New Yorker"Indeed, many of the images in “The Book of Dolores” have a garish  sideshow quality: Dolores with whip and dog collar; Dolores with a noose  around her neck; Dolores as a deranged clown...The results are  shocking — a sense of shock that Mr. Vollmann cultivates. Sometimes he  even scares himself."-The New York Times"Vollmann's latest, The Book of Dolores, is perhaps his most unusual, which is no small assertion."-Newsweek"A major  writer has left us alone in his studio to play around with his tools:  cameras, film, developing baths, brushes, paints, pencils and pens. He  has left us alone in the studio of his sex."-New York Observer"The results of the experiment are undeniably transfixing, a mixed-media look at a raw and intimate transformation."-New Yorkmagazine's The Cut blog