Review
"The strangeness of the stories in Things That Pass For Love give them a particular kind of universality; we believe in these characters and situations even as we're made a little uncomfortable at how easily we recognize them." --Lynna Williams, Chicago Tribune
"The strangeness of the stories in
Things That Pass for Love give them a particular kind of universality; we believe in these characters and situations even as we're made a little uncomfortable at how easily we recognize them." --Lynna Williams,
Chicago Tribune
Review
"The terrible impact of bodies falling from the sky, the shrill thwack of a golf ball hit out-of-bounds, the elusively tender caress upon a faithful dog's head. Such tactile, sensory imagery infuses Amend's lustrous collection of short fiction that celebrates the forlorn and isolated, the disgruntled and misunderstood, the least guarded and most apprehensive among us. With sly humor and subtle insight, Amend traces the uncertain trajectory of love from devotion to deception, blossom to breakup, through relationships both casual and deep. An inner-city schoolteacher tries desperately to break down the barriers between insensitivity and empathy in `Dominion over Every Erring Thing,' while a writer of cybererotica is surprised by a callous lack of loyalty in `The People You Know Best.' In a world where husbands begrudgingly support wives and sisters inexplicably betray brothers, where lovers appear and disappear at whim, Amend's dialogue is crisp and pure, her observations nuanced and keen, her understanding of the human condition buoyant and clear."
