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Say This
It’s a cold spring in Baltimore, 2018, when the email arrives: the celebrity journalist hopes Eva will tell him everything about the sexual affair she had as a teen with her older cousin, a man now in federal prison for murder. Thirteen years earlier, Lenore-May answers the phone to the nightmare news that her son’s body has been found near Mount Hood, and homicide is suspected. Following Eva’s unsettling ambivalence towards her confusing relationship and constructing a portrait of her cousin’s victim via collaged perspectives of the slain man’s family, these two linked novellas borrow, interrogate, sometimes dismantle the tropes of true crime; lyrically render the experiences of grief and dissociation; and brilliantly mine the fault lines of power and consent, silence, justice, accountability, and class. Say This is a startling exploration of the devastating effects of trauma on personal identity.
270 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 2, 2022
I thought the premise of this to be so interesting - two linked novellas - dealing with what could be considered unsettling topics. The first novella is one that is meant to be provocative and uses a writing style that I'm growing a little weary of at this point - pages where there is only one word, or one sentence or one paragraph. This first novella was interesting and good to read, despite this now well-worn style. The second novella runs clear off the rails with this style and in some pages (too many pages in my opinion) only one letter appears.
At this point, I'm going to just wait and see what the Giller judges give us on Tuesday for the 2022 Longlist instead of attempting to read the ones that might possibly appear.
At this point, I'm going to just wait and see what the Giller judges give us on Tuesday for the 2022 Longlist instead of attempting to read the ones that might possibly appear.
February 17, 2022
SPOILER ALERT!
I really quite enjoyed this title. Each of the two novellas are completely different in every way you can consider. I did find the transition from the first to the second to be rather abrupt… the change in tone being the most jarring difference.
Structurally, the first novella takes on Eva’s journey, to her, finally, closing the door on that part of her life that ‘came before’... and we leave her as she begins her life anew. The second novella, on the other hand, sees the family of the murder victim, Adrian, continuing to bear the burden - the weight - of the event. His death is their lingering trauma.
We never do get to know the truth of Duane (Eva’s cousin) as we only see him through the eyes of Eva (and never from the perspective of the family). We can read between the lines though, and we can intuit that this is a cautionary tale - reminder - that we reap what we sow when we allow children to grow up in such neglect. It is also a cry for compassion in the workings and weighings in of the justice system.
Not do we ever really know the full truth of Adrian, Duane’s victim. His public persona seems to be a bit at odds with some of the private remembrances. I guess the point is that we never - rarely - really know anyone in their completeness.
This reads very much like poetry - but it is clearly prose! There is an abundance of white space on the page… the stories are written as fragments… sometimes no more than a word - or a number - on a page. As much is left unsaid as is said. The preponderance of blank pages scattered throughout the book - I’d hazard as much as a ⅓ of the page count are entirely blank (or serve as chapter divides, title pages) give the reader opportunity for pause… as the subject matter is very intense… with more than a little potential to be very triggering.
The way in which the cousin grooms Eva, is one of the centrepoints of the first novella. And the impact on Eva - the self doubt, the anxiety, the guilt that she feels - is palpable. This reader ached for the way in which she was so wholly unable to shake the notion that she in some way didn’t love him well enough, and that she is to blame for him spiralling the way he did, and ultimately, for the murder. She was just a little girl….
Intellectually, I understand why Lauryn is written as a classical scholar, but most of her parts do nothing for me. It all feels just a little too contrived. This is also true even as it relates to the four different ‘voices’ of the second novella - a Greek chorus of sorts. Early on in the book Eva also engages in a ‘chorus’ of sorts with a repetitive refrain of ‘Think of me. Miss Me.’... or ‘Miss Me. Think of Me.’
I’m of mixed minds about the need for the journalist, Dash, except that I can agree that Eva probably didn’t have the ability to see her way through the process that might have allowed her to have the visit with her cousin - the f/act that gave her closure and allowed her to move on with her life. We never do find out whether the journalist went ahead with his tell all book, after Eva cleared reneged on the agreement that they had reached. This leaves me wondering the extent to which she was truly able to move on with her life.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for access to an early digital ARC.
I really quite enjoyed this title. Each of the two novellas are completely different in every way you can consider. I did find the transition from the first to the second to be rather abrupt… the change in tone being the most jarring difference.
Structurally, the first novella takes on Eva’s journey, to her, finally, closing the door on that part of her life that ‘came before’... and we leave her as she begins her life anew. The second novella, on the other hand, sees the family of the murder victim, Adrian, continuing to bear the burden - the weight - of the event. His death is their lingering trauma.
We never do get to know the truth of Duane (Eva’s cousin) as we only see him through the eyes of Eva (and never from the perspective of the family). We can read between the lines though, and we can intuit that this is a cautionary tale - reminder - that we reap what we sow when we allow children to grow up in such neglect. It is also a cry for compassion in the workings and weighings in of the justice system.
Not do we ever really know the full truth of Adrian, Duane’s victim. His public persona seems to be a bit at odds with some of the private remembrances. I guess the point is that we never - rarely - really know anyone in their completeness.
This reads very much like poetry - but it is clearly prose! There is an abundance of white space on the page… the stories are written as fragments… sometimes no more than a word - or a number - on a page. As much is left unsaid as is said. The preponderance of blank pages scattered throughout the book - I’d hazard as much as a ⅓ of the page count are entirely blank (or serve as chapter divides, title pages) give the reader opportunity for pause… as the subject matter is very intense… with more than a little potential to be very triggering.
The way in which the cousin grooms Eva, is one of the centrepoints of the first novella. And the impact on Eva - the self doubt, the anxiety, the guilt that she feels - is palpable. This reader ached for the way in which she was so wholly unable to shake the notion that she in some way didn’t love him well enough, and that she is to blame for him spiralling the way he did, and ultimately, for the murder. She was just a little girl….
Intellectually, I understand why Lauryn is written as a classical scholar, but most of her parts do nothing for me. It all feels just a little too contrived. This is also true even as it relates to the four different ‘voices’ of the second novella - a Greek chorus of sorts. Early on in the book Eva also engages in a ‘chorus’ of sorts with a repetitive refrain of ‘Think of me. Miss Me.’... or ‘Miss Me. Think of Me.’
I’m of mixed minds about the need for the journalist, Dash, except that I can agree that Eva probably didn’t have the ability to see her way through the process that might have allowed her to have the visit with her cousin - the f/act that gave her closure and allowed her to move on with her life. We never do find out whether the journalist went ahead with his tell all book, after Eva cleared reneged on the agreement that they had reached. This leaves me wondering the extent to which she was truly able to move on with her life.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for access to an early digital ARC.
August 27, 2022
“That’s Elise Levine!”
Some writers develop a distinctive, quickly recognizable style, and that’s definitely the case with Elise Levine. I first started reading Levine’s work with her first collection of stories, Driving Men Mad (1995), and since then, another book, and another book, and another…until her mark on the Canadian literature landscape has become indelible.
In Say This, which is comprised of two linked novellas, there is much to admire for both a reader and a writer. The basic plot has Eva reluctantly revisiting the memories of a cousin she came out of innocence and into experience with decades ago, and who now has infiltrated her present life through a nosy journalist. The entire first page? “The fog and its clearing. The fog again, a clouded mirror. Eva’s cousin. His slender back.” With plenty of white space around most sections. The narrative threads are intriguing, seductive, as we along with Eva trace the impact of her cousin on her life so many years ago and now again in the present, which also of course contains the past, and the opportunity to meet him again, in prison where he's held for the murder.
There is much for other writers to learn about technique in Levine’s work: in this new book, I was particularly struck by Levine’s careful, clever, and powerful use of white space. For many, white space offers just a pause, a breath, a break to serve as a transition, a short gap in the passage of time where a reader pauses, gets her bearings, and then reads on. But it’s doing much more here, by a craft master. Form reflects content—illustraing the gaps in our memories, the gaps in our understanding as we struggle to reflect, remember, re-collect past events. How the past informs the present even with its unreliable, forgotten, erased, misconstrued details.
And the language—oh, the language, so often exquisite, that makes Levine’s work so easy to identify; here’s an example: “Another pill, a pre-rolled, two glasses of wine. Not so bad. Until she settles into her hotel bed and a memory of sleep but not the thing itself. Old things. They slice into the room and bring wind and rain that needle her face. She tries not to move or call out. The murdered man beside her in bed…. Alone. The room dark with hours. Old things. A clouded mirror. Am I hurting you? Out on the river, channel buoys toll the night.”
In the second novella, Levine continues to explore, through a variety of points of view, the ways the past informs and misinforms the present. It is in a sense a murder mystery, but one that is ‘bass akwards’—chapter one is “everything has already happened.” Lenore-May, Michael, Lauryn, Jim—the family of the murdered man, move back and forth through time, and yet the novella is all of a piece, and a pairing with the first, all threads, strands of wool, of silk from the same woven cloth, and these differences in time, place, and perspective do not confuse readers but rather further inform them of the way the then and now, the then and there, combine and fuse and clarify or confuse, but never in a way that loses the reader.
In Say This, Levine fully engages both head and heart—explores time, memory, and the struggle to make sense, to find clarity. What more could a reader ask?
Some writers develop a distinctive, quickly recognizable style, and that’s definitely the case with Elise Levine. I first started reading Levine’s work with her first collection of stories, Driving Men Mad (1995), and since then, another book, and another book, and another…until her mark on the Canadian literature landscape has become indelible.
In Say This, which is comprised of two linked novellas, there is much to admire for both a reader and a writer. The basic plot has Eva reluctantly revisiting the memories of a cousin she came out of innocence and into experience with decades ago, and who now has infiltrated her present life through a nosy journalist. The entire first page? “The fog and its clearing. The fog again, a clouded mirror. Eva’s cousin. His slender back.” With plenty of white space around most sections. The narrative threads are intriguing, seductive, as we along with Eva trace the impact of her cousin on her life so many years ago and now again in the present, which also of course contains the past, and the opportunity to meet him again, in prison where he's held for the murder.
There is much for other writers to learn about technique in Levine’s work: in this new book, I was particularly struck by Levine’s careful, clever, and powerful use of white space. For many, white space offers just a pause, a breath, a break to serve as a transition, a short gap in the passage of time where a reader pauses, gets her bearings, and then reads on. But it’s doing much more here, by a craft master. Form reflects content—illustraing the gaps in our memories, the gaps in our understanding as we struggle to reflect, remember, re-collect past events. How the past informs the present even with its unreliable, forgotten, erased, misconstrued details.
And the language—oh, the language, so often exquisite, that makes Levine’s work so easy to identify; here’s an example: “Another pill, a pre-rolled, two glasses of wine. Not so bad. Until she settles into her hotel bed and a memory of sleep but not the thing itself. Old things. They slice into the room and bring wind and rain that needle her face. She tries not to move or call out. The murdered man beside her in bed…. Alone. The room dark with hours. Old things. A clouded mirror. Am I hurting you? Out on the river, channel buoys toll the night.”
In the second novella, Levine continues to explore, through a variety of points of view, the ways the past informs and misinforms the present. It is in a sense a murder mystery, but one that is ‘bass akwards’—chapter one is “everything has already happened.” Lenore-May, Michael, Lauryn, Jim—the family of the murdered man, move back and forth through time, and yet the novella is all of a piece, and a pairing with the first, all threads, strands of wool, of silk from the same woven cloth, and these differences in time, place, and perspective do not confuse readers but rather further inform them of the way the then and now, the then and there, combine and fuse and clarify or confuse, but never in a way that loses the reader.
In Say This, Levine fully engages both head and heart—explores time, memory, and the struggle to make sense, to find clarity. What more could a reader ask?
August 1, 2025
Interesting formatting and plot.
Though it was at times hard for me to follow the different chapters in the second novella I did find this book relatively interesting and unique compared to the books I’ve been reading recently.
However, I must say that I’ve been looking up interviews of the author and trying to find summaries and more explanation of the story itself after finishing it. Though this is mostly so that I can better engage and understand the book itself.
Though it was at times hard for me to follow the different chapters in the second novella I did find this book relatively interesting and unique compared to the books I’ve been reading recently.
However, I must say that I’ve been looking up interviews of the author and trying to find summaries and more explanation of the story itself after finishing it. Though this is mostly so that I can better engage and understand the book itself.
June 19, 2022
As a dyslexic person, this is very difficult to read. I spent more time trying to decipher the choppy and broke sentances. Because of this I disliked the book, could not get into the characters or care about their experiences.
In all honesty, I stopped reading at pg 100 and will not be finishing the book.
In all honesty, I stopped reading at pg 100 and will not be finishing the book.
May 23, 2022
Interesting read, enjoyed the conversation aspect of it tough longes for more regarding the actual details of the murder. Maybe that’s my own fault (always craving the evil and gruesome details).
November 6, 2022
Fascinating look at traumatic events from different points of view. I enjoyed the first novella, Eva Hurries Home the most. Will definitely seek out more from this author.
November 26, 2022
I liked the writing style of this a lot, though it left a lot up to interpretation and imagination.
January 28, 2023
This book made me want to quit reading forever.
I have no idea what I just read.
I have no idea what I just read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews