Wild Ride: Earthquakes, Sneezes and Other Thrills - Softcover

Lowe, Bia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060926953 ISBN 13: 9780060926953

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 1996

Synopsis

A collection of personal essays on topics as diverse as the nature of allergies, a meditation on bats, and the significance of 1974, from a writer with a uniquely acute and sophisticated voice.

About this title

Review:

For some books, the act of reading seems too flat a response. Their pages demand a more physical engagement; their words need to be slurped, hugged, wrestled in a sweat to the library floor. Bia Lowe's book is so good you'll want to dance with it. Wild Ride will confound book-sellers who like to categorize their wares. This genre-breaching collection of 19 pieces, some of which were first published in Harper's and other magazines, takes readers on an instructive, provocative and lush tour of Lowe's world -- the natural, unnatural and the supernatural place we all inhabit. ...Never sentimental, always sharp, Lowe traces paths through a world that is both hopelessly flawed and heartwrenchingly beautiful. What informs her vision, and knits these essays into a whole, is her abiding wonder at being alive -- even in these ragged, raging times. -- Anndee Hochman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 30, 1995

Ms. Lowe is a slick-shooting word slinger. She takes aim and let's fly: feelings, ideas, images explode like scatter shot...If you decide to brave this book, buckle up. Wild Ride is a wild read. -- New York Times Book Review, March 12, 1995

From Publishers Weekly:

This collection of essays, most of which have been published previously, ranges from the author's childhood fears and fantasies to acute observations of life and nature. Lowe, whose works have appeared in books (Sister and Brother: Lesbians and Gay Men Write About One Another) and magazines, shows herself to be a keen observer of whatever catches her attention. Meditating upon bats, Lowe notes that, like humans, they are long-lived and sexy. The scent of skunk leads her to a discussion of fear, feces and the odor of a lover's infidelity. Lowe writes about blood ("salty bouillon"), dancing school, a lover's surgery, cave art and horror movies. On the subject of allergies: "Gone are the days at the slope of a horse's neck, the velvet of his muzzle, those lips working my palm like a chamois glove." Readers will find here a wide assortment of topics.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0060926953
• ISBN 13: 9780060926953
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192