Close to Spider Man [Paperback]

Ivan E. Coyote (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Close to Spider Man marks the debut of an exciting new literary talent: a collection of connected stories whose female narrators seek out lives for themselves amidst the lonely, breathtaking landscape of the Yukon. The young women in Ivan Coyote's deeply personal stories are looking to make a break from their circumstances, but the North is in their bones: so is their connections to family, friends, and other women. Like the protagonist in the title story, a waitress whose attempts to help a young co-worker saddled with a lunatic father finds her running across rooftops and climbing ladders; by getting close to Spider Man, she gets closer to freedom.

Startling in their intimacy, the stories in Close to Spider Man make up a moving scrapbook of what it's like to be a young queer woman in the North, journeys imbued with the colours of a prescient sexuality and an honest heart.

Runner-up, Danuta Gleed Award for Short-Fiction

(arsenalpulp.com )

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the far reaches of northern Alaska, the 13 brief, interconnected coming-of-age stories of Coyote's debut collection are as blissfully rich as the countryside in which they are set. All the tomboyish female storytellers are assured and absorbing, acutely aware of their emerging lesbianism while strapped with the true knowledge of "what trouble girls really were." In "No Bikini," an unnamed six-year-old narrator is fearlessly aware of her androgynous possibilities and, to the horror of her mother, spends an entire summer sans her bikini top, posing as a boy during swimming lessons. Pushing gender boundaries back even further, a woman applies to legally change her name to Ivan in "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" because Dorothy, her given name, simply "doesn't fit the rest of me." Coyote's vivid descriptions of family gatherings spiked with raw emotion make many of these stories little gems. In the moving tale "This, That, and the Other Thing," the author merges a recipe for spicy chipotle chicken with scenes from her parents' excruciating separation. The emotive "There Goes the Bride" is the anguished inner monologue of a woman attending the heterosexual wedding ceremony of her former lover. Ever proud, but mourning her loss, she finally retreats to a back corner and communes with oddball relatives. Fronted with alluring K.D. Lang album-style cover art, this lean, thoroughly entertaining literary scrapbook of Yukon lesbian life will speak strongly to lesbian readers, but deserves a crossover audience for its surefooted, humorous take on misfit love and familial solidarity. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The 13 interconnected coming-of-age stories of Coyote's debut collection are as blissfully rich as the countryside in which they are set.... [It's a] thoroughly entertaining, surefooted, humorous take on misfit love and familial solidarity.
—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly )

A proud, wry little book.
—Georgia Straight (Georgia Straight )

Powerful in its imagery, these stories present a deeply vivid and moving portrait.
—Lambda Book Report (Lambda Book Report )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 93 pages
• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551520869
• ISBN-13: 978-1551520865
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what boyz know, August 17, 2001

By 

Adeba (cleveland, ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Close to Spider Man (Paperback)

ivan's is a clear and tender voice that is never sentimental. as a feminist what i found consistently striking was how powerful an unanalytical voice can be when it simply details again and again what it means to experience life as a girl when your imagination is hungry enough to identify and crave the different sorts of freedoms that boys have.

ivan is a performer and each story lends itself to being read aloud . try reading one aloud to yourself and be something new - or remember something lost - in your own imagination.

i recommend this volume to educators looking for appropriate stories for grade and high-school exploration of gender, sexism and homophobia. there is wry gentleness here - an open style that lets the reader choose to do as much work as each is ready to. start with "no bikini."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful stories, December 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Close to Spider Man (Paperback)

Ivan E. Coyote is a member of Taste Taste, the lesbian performance collective that published the amazing book Boys like Her a few years ago. This is her first solo story collection, and they're amazing: about growing up as a dyke in the Canadian North. A strong, intimate voice!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eloquent and savory, December 16, 2000

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close to Spider Man (Paperback)

These various tales of women growing up queer and as tomboys in the Yukon are all amazing in their wit and their power. Coyote is a member of Taste This, whose book "Boys Like Her" is still one of my favorites. Two of my favorites in the book are "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" where the narrator (Coyote) faces the name she was given at birth and finds one that reflects her real self, and the last story, "Red Sock Circle Dance", which concerns families of choice and a sort of passing the queer torch to a younger generation of queers. I wish this book were longer!