Week 3 Review Roundup **UPDATED**

It's been a busy week for writing about Light Boxes. It's really great to read the parts of the novel people choose to excerpt. Reading the book this way reminds me of all the great things about it, all the strange surprises.

decomP called it "an intriguing page turner." Thanks Jason Jordan.

And Steve Himmer approaches the review from an interesting perspective at Tawny Grammar, which is a beautiful blog. There is a bear smoking a pipe on it. He (Steve Timmer, not the bear) says,

What I like best about Light Boxes is that its absurd touches (like a town going to war against February) are always organic to the story, grown from expressions of genuine emotion; the father in me thinks that’s especially true of the dad/daughter relationship at the heart of the novel. It doesn’t overwork metaphors, nor does it retreat behind the bulwark of irony to disown the intuitive sincerity in those surreal images.

At his blog, DJ Berndt called the book, "A perfect recipe with each ingredient constantly complementing the others, resulting in an evolving piece of art that belongs on the bookshelf of every person who has ever experienced sadness."

Brandi Wells mentioned it on her blog, too, saying, "There was not a part of that book where I got bored or wanted to skim." In fact, she's reading it a second time.

Most gratifying as a publisher and fulfillment specialist was Julie Dill's nice comment that "sometimes businesses do that little bit that makes customer loyalty inevitable. Adam Robinson, today is your day." (This is because I said thank you and treated her like a human, which she really seems to be.) She also said that the book has a stark, yet serene cover.

PH Madore said, "The imagery is rich, the story is gorgeous." Also, the story puts him in mind of elimae, which is nice.

Speaking of elimae, next week they're running a nice interview with Shane by Michael Kimball.

But for interviews this week, check out this great Q&A at The Scowl. Tobias Carroll notes that "much of the novel, for me, draws on the primal concept of the importance of naming" and then Shane goes, "I just tried to keep it interesting at all times."

Finally, I really love this review at the Hipster Book Club. The reviewer, Jen Penkethman, says a lot of interesting things and compares Light Boxes to Salvador Plascencia's work. I haven't heard of that person before, but the next time I type his name it will be in order to buy his book online. Ms. Penkethman also writes that, "The story of one town's triumph over February, which is both a season and a person in this novel, is played out in highly creative, luminously visual, and often emotionally touching ways."

I put Shane's number into my phone as "The Hipster Author" and it is going to stay that way.

Hey, thanks a lot.