Michelle Noteboom
Roadkill

US Trade, 84pp, €12, July 2013
ISBN 979-10-90394-11-7
The cover design is by Frédéric Forte using an image by Daniel Levin Becker.

Making the most of a collision of dictions, on the one hand, while spanning era, class, and mood on the other, Noteboom sails directly and fearlessly into the quotidian—yet with an astronomical dimension. This collection is fueled by a recogni- tion of the great range that language can cover, and that it can create. Often irreverent and almost always sassy, Noteboom’s texts make language travel at tremendous speed, and she’s an excellent chronicler of every inch of territory she makes it cover. It’s a startling and marvellous ride! Cole Swensen

This is one roadkill that simply refuses to stay down. A book that shows the vapidness of our daily monotony colliding head-on with unfilled desires and yearnings to be whole and happy; and the obviously laughable impossibility of just that given our fractured society. “Can we blame this on Capitalism, too?” Noteboom asks. Good question. Even a better read. Roadkill leaves plenty of room for the reader to confront and ponder, and have a good belly laugh or two during the trip. Joe Ross