Lost Lake Stories [Paperback]

Remarkable by any measure, but all the more considering that this is Sloukas debut&On nearly every page sentences approach the lyricism and rigor of observation of an Elizabeth Bishop poem.[Sloukaflashes forward and back in time with astonishing alacrity and skill.Dazzling&A work of extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity.Sensual, elegiac nature writing and complex, full-bodied stories.Mr. Slouka is an important writer, and [So rich and affecting that it incorporates all kinds of influences while remaining singular and quite unforgettable.I love this artistically brave book. In his longer stories, Slouka paints large canvases of time, death, love, nature, longing, and humor. I am happily astonished by these sensuous, mystical, wise, romantic, and passionate stories, whose cadences and arches remind me of Faulkner. And its the best writing about water Ive read sinceA beautifully written, precisely seen series of stories about fathers, death, exile, sex, and fishing. Each of them seems to contain a world. Together they make a picture of the emotional lives of menwho they are, and how they got to be that way. Dark territory, illuminated.I have never been so moved as I was reading this elegant and frankly poetic collection of stories&[T]he hallmark of a really fine short story is that in its abbreviated space it nonetheless manages to contain everything. Certainly this is true for Mark Slouka, who holds life up to his jewelers eyepiece and shares with us his amazing vision.Relentlessly observant, miraculously expressive, these [stories] see through the mirrored surface into a hidden yet strangely intimate world.