"The book opens with Pieces, a web of vignettes concerning the fate of amputated body parts, some surgically removed, others lost by accident or acts of violence. In the world of this story, one cannot enter heaven with a body less than fully intact, and the careful provisions that must be made for lost limbs and excised organs animate the business operations and spiritual rites of an entire small town."
"The late Katherine Dunn's acclaimed novel, about an itinerant family-circus freakshow, has been enthusiastically recommended to me by numerous bookish friends. I even own a copy, which, as of this writing, occupies a spot on my shelf alongside dozens of other smooth-spined paperbacks, a row of guilty reminders that buying books and reading books are indeed separate hobbies. Knowing Dunn's work only by reputation, I felt uniquely unqualified to review ,"
Near Flesh comprises eighteen short stories that combine morbid humor with evocative, idiosyncratic prose. The collection examines bodies, motherhood, the natural world, violence, and death through uneven, unsettling scenarios. The opening piece, "Pieces," strings vignettes about amputated limbs and excised organs, depicting a community organized around provisions and rites for bodily loss and spiritual completeness. A particular episode follows a veteran who intentionally severs a finger in wartime recompense and the woman's dachshunds that find it in the brush. Language throughout favors sinewy diction and distinctive imagery that imprints a singular, immediately recognizable narrative voice.
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