Bonnie Engelman

I read her two books, Disappearing Earth, which I finished an hour ago, after I had read Bear. First, I’d like to say that I hope she publishes her next work, whatever it is, ASAP, as I will gobble it up immediately. Ms Phillips has just the right amount of lyricism and poetry to create dream scapes in even the most brutal environments, and combined with her uncanny ability to capture her characters’ emotions and imbue her readers with them, she is absolutely the best novelist I’ve read in years. Her gorgeous metaphors had me noting page numbers so I could return to them and keep a catalog for my own edification. And her storytelling is so wrenching and unanticipated, I was left yelling at the ends of both books, out loud and half in a frenzy. Part of me wants to sample a happy ending from her, but then that would not be consistent with her own intensity, and the way of the world. And check out her photo on the back flap of Disappearing Earth. She looks like she was cast for her role. And of course, she lives in Brooklyn. I’ll have to find her birth date. I wonder if she’s a Scorpio, Damn girl, you are so good, I grovel at your literary feet! Bonnie Engelman