Normal Sex by Linda Smukler

Normal Sex

Linda Smukler

This slim volume of what can only be called prose poems is lyric, sensual, and stylistically unique. Smukler is a highly original writer, wedding the poetic manner of e. e. cummings with the ability to reflect sensitively on childhood found in Katherine Mansfield and Rosamund Lehmann. The two early sections in the book, ‘Monkey Boy’ and ‘Tales of a Lost Boyhood,’ describe without self-pity a child sexually abused by father and grandfather, then raised to painfully compromise with and conform to the expected patterns of society’s concept of gender identity. Part three, ‘Normal Sex,’ continues to reflect the innocent’s perspective as the child matures into a pursuit of love and lifestyle that is lesbian, although that word is never uttered. Poignant, gut-wrenching, and above all, beautiful, this is an exceptional, though unconventional, book. Marie Kuda

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