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A review by brucefarrar
Paper Lantern: Love Stories by Stuart Dybek
3.0
Nine short stories previously published in magazines between 1995 and 2012. Although subtitled love stories they might more accurately be described as fictional nostalgic reminisces of erotic encounters that didn’t work out so well for the participants. Most are set in Chicago.
Dybek’s style is littered with allusions to other works of literature, painting, opera, cinema, and popular culture. This in not to say that it’s not skillful or literary; it very much abounds in these techniques. However, for me, this occasionally, got in the way of the story, especially in the stories, “Tosca” and “Oceanic.”
Dybek’s style is littered with allusions to other works of literature, painting, opera, cinema, and popular culture. This in not to say that it’s not skillful or literary; it very much abounds in these techniques. However, for me, this occasionally, got in the way of the story, especially in the stories, “Tosca” and “Oceanic.”