Customer Reviews

Tasting Life Twice: Literary Lesbian Fiction by New American Writers

5 star:		(3)
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3 star:		(1)
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We have had to wait for this one for a long time. The anthology contains twenty four stories by serious lesbian writers, many of whom I had never heard of previously but most of whom I want to read more from. Contributors to the anthology include Mary La Chapelle, Carol Anshaw, Jan Ramjerdi and Carole Maso. Besides the high quality of the fiction what is striking about the anthology is the range. From the experimental fiction of Jan Ramjerdi to the wonderful humor of Carol Anshaw. Well worth purchasing. Something you'll be recommending to all of your friends

What a supreme pleasure to have all these voices gathered in this volume--voices that were or would have been twice-silenced, as those of both women and lesbians. This tour-de-force collection opens the floodgates for more gorgeous, canny, wise prose from women who love other women -- for all women, and for all men who understand the vitality and beauty of all human connection.

I recall when I first came across this book and the great feeling of appreciation I had that EJ Levy collected great literary works of fiction by lesbians or with lesbian themes. I'd read so much "bad" writing by gay women writers, published only in a misguided effort to hear any lesbian voices. The introduction to this book is brilliant and timeless, and the collection is suberb. I highly recommend this anthology.

I love short story anthologies, and looked hard to find a good lesbian one. Unfortunately, this one was less than stellar. While some of the stories in it are good, even great, others just aren't. In addition, the anthology itself is not very well put-together; there's hardly any information on the authors or stories, which would have helped draw the book together. As a side note, some of the stories are much more lesbian-oriented than others. I wondered why some of the stories were even included, since none of the characters were GLBT.