While entertaining on many levels, this strong collection of short prose reaches deep below the reader's consciousness, poking at the mysteries there with a lighter touch than would seem possible for the quickening it causes. The pieces are perfectly matched by original art by Revital Lessick.
A stunning collection. Though I nearly inhaled Light Reflection Over Blues in one sitting, Avital Gad-Cykman’s opalescent stories had me turning over each one in my mind. With poetic, condensed language, she evokes the pains of young women growing up amidst conflict in the landscape around them―as well as deep in their own hearts. Sometimes surreal, sometimes frank, but always engaging, these stories hit like smart bombs. --Viet Dinh, O’Henry Award winning author of After Disasters
The people in Avital Gad-Cykman's stories are haunted by both the past and the future. They live in a world where everything is fluid and impermanent--geopolitical boundaries, family bonds, the self itself. Their lives are simultaneously holy and profane, joyful and heartbroken--which is another way of saying deeply, recognizably, stirringly human. Life's unspeakable mystery winds through these stories like a whisper in the dark. --Ron Currie, Jr, Addison M Metcalf Award recipient from the Academy of Arts and Letters
A stunning collection. Though I nearly inhaled Light Reflection Over Blues in one sitting, Avital Gad-Cykman’s opalescent stories had me turning over each one in my mind. With poetic, condensed language, she evokes the pains of young women growing up amidst conflict in the landscape around them―as well as deep in their own hearts. Sometimes surreal, sometimes frank, but always engaging, these stories hit like smart bombs. --Kim Chinquee, recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and editor of ELJ and New World Writing
