When X Equals Marylou
Description
When X Equals Marylou collects stories about photographers, balding men, ghost chasers, doppelgangers, bibliophiles, and dystopian subversives, to name but a few. It's a mix not only of characters, but of time, and of worlds--moving from Russia to Hungary to Canada, from small towns to big cities to the interior of dreams, from suburbia to welfare offices to oman interrogations to Alcoholics Anonymous to the Library of Alexandria.
This new collection, from the author of Doggone, is a kind of beguiling miscellany, with each story opening another door, offering another glimpse, all in the hope that readers come away not so much with the experience of having read one book, but many. After all, it's what a book of stories should be; a scattering of perception rather than a coherence.
Awards
- Long-listed, Nominated for the Danuta Gleed Award 2002
Reviews
Rich and thoughtful without being too sentimental, these stories are sharp and observant.
- Portland Mercury
-The Portland Mercury
Dobozy's stories sparkle like shards of glass.
-The Globe & Mail
- The Globe & Mail
Reading one of Dobozy's compellingly odd tales is like floating through a dream world. His characters' Freudian longings are out in the open, and his logic and language are those of a mildly upsetting nightmare.
-The Gazette
- The Gazette
Tamas Dobozy is something of a daredevil. . . his stories are full of rewards.
-Amazon. ca
- Amazon.ca
The stories in When X Equals Marylou. . . are the literary equivalent of broken glass in a spoonful of honey. They go down smoothly, with a bit of prickling, then tear the reader apart when they least expect it. Dobozy is an expansive talent.
-Quill & Quire
- Quill & Quire
Dobozy looks at the ills of modernity with an acute eye. He's a psychologically-attentive writer. . . a major literary talent in the making.
-Westender
- Westender
It's not always a pleasant world that Dobozy creates, but his writing is too powerful (and too real) to stop reading.
-Nexus
- Nexus
The writing in these stories is often slightly surreal, a quality that comes from Dobozy's ability to blend beauty with harshness. . . [Dobozy's stories are] sharp and edgy but entrancing. . .
-Jay Ruzesky in The Malahat Review
- Jay Ruzesky
Gritty, sexy, and all too real.
-Toronto Star
- Toronto Star