Attempts at a Life
"A fascinating debut, one that signals a writer whose work is worth following."-- Aufgabe"Dutton s work is incredibly inviting ... is 'accessible' in the best way possible. She s working at a remarkably high level of insight while still inviting you to enjoy yourself."-- Coldfront"In section after section inAttempts at a Life, Danielle Dutton executes expert, miniscule language slips that make us slide down the surface of her narratives like raindrops streaking the windows of the last un-gentrified house in an old Victorian neighborhood."-- Rain Taxi"Dutton s characters, and they are vivid characters, all approach the world as if it were immovable in its construction and the ways it will hurt them."-- Octopus Magazine"The stories often read like curious abstract puzzles, and one should resist running to the bookshelves to attempt to break the code. The best pieces call to mind that of Gertrude Stein or Diane Williams, both obvious influences on Dutton whose lines she also pastiches, with a voice that comes off as refreshingly eccentric, as in the title story, a collection of nine fragmented first-person biographies. She also reimagines the lives of famous heroines from literature, from Hester Prynne to Virginia Woolf s Mary Carmichael inA Room of One s Ownto Alice James to Madame Bovary. Her glorious version ofJane Eyrereads like one ofThe Guardians congested reads as reimagined by Gertrude Stein or Jane Bowles."-- The Review of Contemporary Fiction"It s serious, but as many dramatists celebrate: comedy orbits a dark sun. Which is to say, this is also a very funny book."-- American Book Review"Danielle Dutton's stories remind me of those alluring puzzles where the pool is overflowing and emptying at the same time. Dutton's answer? That the self is a rush of the languages of storytelling and moments of helpless intimacy."-- Robert Glück"Danielle Dutton writes with a deft explosiveness that craters the page with stunning, unsettling precision."-- Laird Hunt--Tarpaulin Sky Press