CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/29/2013

Karen Green's 'Bough Down' Makes Something Beautiful Out of the Saddest Stuff in the World

This weekend, Martin Riker reviewed Karen Green’s Bough Down, published by Siglio, in the Wall Street Journal. "Part memoir, part artist's book, Bough Down is Karen Green's chronicle of the suicide of her husband, David Foster Wallace, and of her own mourning. It is a delicate vellum-covered object, in which narrative scenes are interspersed with abstract collages (most of them not much larger than a postage stamp and some made out of actual stamps). Ms. Green turns out to be a profoundly good writer: Bough Down is lovely, smart and funny, in addition to being brutally clear and sad…. Perhaps most impressive about Bough Down is that, despite the poetic pitch of its language, it refuses to poeticize its subject. It does not resolve into pure despondency, on the one hand, or redemptive hope, on the other. Instead, Ms. Green registers the complexity of grief and in the process makes something beautiful out of the saddest stuff in the world." Karen Green will appear at 192 Books in New York this Friday, May 31 at 7PM, for a book signing and reception. Space is limited, so please RSVP at 212-255-4022 or info@192books.com.