Marilyn Krysl Books

The comical elegance of Marilyn Krysl's new book, featuring a spare but expensive table setting and a place card for its title guest, perfectly mirrors the elegant prose inside. Krysl serves up substantial portions of reality, made not just palatable, but savory by the humor and originality she mixes in. Her compassionate, idiosyncratic depictions of those who suffer famine and war teases each individual character out from the masses we too often imagine as an inhuman blur. She sears their suffering into our memory. But just as we don't think we can swallow another bite of such truth, she refreshes our palate with a zesty rendering of mother-daughter love, or a treatise on the beauty of belly fat, or the imperious, altruistic narrative voice of the Egyptian goddess Hathor and her pal Akka, the 12th Century Indian feminist. The two put George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden in time out together and make them take deep breaths. If you like your truth buttered in wisdom, and, like me, need to laugh in order to stay sane, read Dinner with Osama.

Marilyn Krysl is one of the most elegant writers around. This book deserves its Sullivan Award and should be on the front table in every bookstore. Her stories are edgy, ironic, fun to read and full of Krysl's magical gift of satire. This would be a great book for any group that is wanting to venture into something more experimental and political than usual, and you'll get even more than you bargained for, since Krsyl is a gifted poet as well, and her prose is full of her careful, cutting observation. Savor this book word by word!

I loved Marilyn Krysl's latest collection of short stories, "Dinner with Osama." The stories are quite diverse and range in topic from satire about the current so-called War on Terror to a very moving depiction of the lives of Sudanese refugees, fleeing genocide. Krysl is always fair, and her satire takes aim not only at religious extremists and militarists but also naive would-be do-gooders, whose self-righteousness she shows can be as dangerous as others' ignorance. One of my favorite stories is called "Cherry Garcia, Pistachio Cream." I thought this might be a yuppie satire but in fact the story is about a mother and daughter, cherishing the good moments we have in our lives, and how fragile we all are. It is a story that celebrates our common humanity; and the writing is gorgeous. Her story "Mitosis," set in the Sudan, is one of the most beautiful love stories I've ever read. Krysl celebrates the human spirit in the face of great adversity. And her prose reads like poetry. She is an amazing writer!! I'm going to recommend this to my book club. I think there's a lot to like and a lot to talk about.

This very powerful and moving literary work, Dinner with Osama, is yet another mighty testament to Marilyn Krysl's masterful writing talent. The writing is so vivid and true that I felt as if I was physically present in each story. Marilyn's ingenious idea for the book's title work is bold and wonderful. This book is simply amazing and absolutely appropriate in light of current world affairs.

In DINNER WITH OSAMA, Marilyn Krysl infuses global despair with the personal joy of regular people living their lovable lives. One of my favorite pieces in the collection is "Cherry Garcia, Pistachio Cream," a luscious story of mother-daughter love, written about all too rarely. Krysl makes an entirely new phenomenon of this love by shadowing it with previous torments and the threat of loss. This talent for chiarascuro makes all her work not just painterly but bejeweled, ruby and emerald phrases only a writer as lyrical as she could pull off. Her searing intelligence shines through her stylistic genius particularly in "Welcome to the Torture Center, Love," where she has ample room to unfurl her insights into the political and the deeply personal. Not that she doesn't in the shorter pieces, such as "Dinner with Osama" and "Are We Dwelling Deep Yet?"--never preachy but compassionate and smart. Uprisings of humor, as in "Belly," bring out the poignancy of love lost.
Carpe the diem, as Krysl says in her idiosyncratic way, is the motif that allows us to savor the day and not so much seize it as allow it to seize us with its splendor and heartbreak. Be ready to have your heart broken in "Mitosis." And one caveat: don't try to read DINNER WITH OSAMA all at once--too many bonbons filled with fresh ideas. Savor each one.

WARSCAPE WITH LOVERS is one of my favorite books of poetry. Each poem is a gem--reflecting the author's deep empathy for humanity while revealing sometimes shocking and horrifying crimes against civilians and families in wartorn nations. Marilyn Krysl, in addition to her writing, is a peace activist, and her desire to show the senselessness of war is apparent in each poem. Beyond the political, her works are also incredibly beautiful--sensual, lyrical, at times humorous, always unforgettable. Some of my favorite poems were written about Krysl's work with Mother Teresa's Calcutta clinic for the dying. They are breathtaking works of art as Krysl gives dignity to even the poorest of the poor, and makes vivid the nuns whose work inspires her. This is not a religious book, but it does transcend the normal boundaries between the physical and spiritual world. For creative writers, I especially recommend this book, as its crystalline lyricism and precise imagery is indeed inspirational and something we all can aspire to.

Another tome from someone who's paycheck comes from a University rather than readers. And she teaches the same. These type of writers should get out of their ivory towers and into the trenches and learn their craft, especially before they set out to teach others. This book was strong on emotion, but weak on craft.

i have always loved krysl's short stories -- and hope her other collections become available again -- but with this book, she's hit her stride. she tells it like it is...and in such beautiful language! let's have MORE from this author, who outdoes most short-story writers publishing in the larger mainstream.

This is one book that cannot be judged by its title and cover. These strongly focused and insightful stories are both penetrating and lyrical -- revealing emotional landscapes of men and women people dealing with important issues. Some stories reflect the disquiet of interpersonal relationships; others deal with the harsh realities of lives interconnected in a global context. I attended a reading where Ms. Krysl read one story, about a man coming to terms with his role in the social injustices of his business dealings in a third world country. The audience was stunned. Instead of a cover of hazy red and gray, with an atom bomb explosion at the top and a reclining bikini-clad woman on the bottom, this book deserved a title and cover representative of the fine quality of the stories within it. This is a book to read, contemplate, and then re-read.