The Position of Spoons

Reviews

A scorching, poignant collection of essays . . . Deborah Levy's new book shows why she's the patron saint of women's writing . . . This collection is the essence of Levy because it revolves around her various literary and artistic heroes – women, mainly – who provide succour for her writing soul . . . Levy touches on how each inspired her; many of Levy's readers, in turn, will be hoping for some of that same inspiration to rub off on them . . . A generous book with much to amuse, admire and often agonise over [A] gifted and enlightening writer . . . 'Telegram to a Pylon Transmitting Electricity of Distances' is a montage of intimate and industrial images that tessellate beautifully. 'The Position of Spoons', an elegant, unnerving and perfectly paced little anecdote from the past, is strange and moving . . . Deborah Levy is invariably sharp and sprightly company Under the blowtorch of Levy’s attention, domestic space and everything in it is transformed into something radically meaningful . . . This is why people love Levy: she has an uncanny ability to honour and redeem aspects of experience routinely dismissed as trivial An absorbing essay collection . . . Few British writers are as adept as Deborah Levy at enacting Hilary Mantel’s advice to writers: to make the reader “feel acknowledged, and yet estranged” Levy writes skilfully on the complex interplay of self-presentation and effacement that’s often demanded of female creativity Expand reviews