Kick the latch / Kathryn Scanlan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scanlan, Kathryn, 1980- author.

Contributor:

Phi Beta Kappa Library Trust Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Horse racing--Fiction.

Horse racing.

Horsemanship--Fiction.

Horsemanship.

Genre:

Novels.

Physical Description:

129 pages ; 19 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : New Directions Books, 2022.

Summary:

"Kathryn Scanlan's Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman's life at the racetrack-the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner's circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the "particular language" of "grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody"-with economy and integrity. Based on transcribed interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer, the novel investigates form and authenticity in a feat of synthesis reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff's Testimony. As Scanlan puts it, "I wanted to preserve-amplify, ex- aggerate-Sonia's idiosyncratic speech, her bluntness, her flair as a storyteller. I arrived at what you could call a composite portrait of a self." Whittled down with a fiercely singular artistry, Kick the Latch bangs out of the starting gate and carries the reader on a careening joyride around the inside track"-- Provided by publisher.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Phi Beta Kappa Library Trust Fund.

ISBN:

9780811232005

081123200X

OCLC:

1304400504