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Anya Achtenberg

Author of The Stories of Devil-Girl

4 Works 39 Members 14 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Image credit: publicity photo from Modern History Press

Works by Anya Achtenberg

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Reviews

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This sounded like a really interesting book, but maybe it just wasn't for me. I attempted to read it a couple of times. I just couldn't get into it, the style made it difficult to understand.
 
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Rosereads | 13 other reviews | Jul 25, 2009 |
In an original and powerful mix of poetry and story telling, Anya Achtenberg lays herself bare in this partly autobiographical series of short stories.

The book delivers a strong message, even if it is painful.
Thought-provoking and well-written.
 
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nellebabe | 13 other reviews | Jul 24, 2009 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I was certain I'd written a reviewed this book after receiving it, but maybe my negative review was deleted?

The strange lyrical poetic prose was difficult to follow and impossible to connect with. I was completely turned off by the style of writing, grammar, prose and story. Unfortunately, not a book I'd even pass along...it was just not there for me.

It looks like it was a better fit for some other reviewers. That's great! I'm glad it has received some positive accolades.
 
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novelnympho | 13 other reviews | Jul 9, 2009 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Achtenberg's primary calling is poetry and that is obvious in every page of her debut novella. Her prose is lyrical, ebbing and flowing like an epic poem. Sometimes the lyricism distracts from the story, but given how brutal the story is, it may be a necessary distraction. Devil-Girl is about a young woman who goes from a grim, abusive childhood to to an even bleaker adulthood. Homelessness, rape, and pornography are all part and parcel of Devil-Girl's life as she tries to find a home or at least a place to be safe. Achtenberg is short on the details of how her protagonist pulls herself out of the muck, but somehow she does and moves to the relatively safe environs of academia in Minnesotta before returning to face her demons in NYC. Achtenberg makes no promises of happily ever after but she does assure her readers that at least the worst is behind Devil Girl.

This work is steeped with suppressed emotion and offers a very bleak view of the world. Achtenberg seemed to be intentionally vague on the basics of the story (who, what, where, when and why) but highlighted snatches of the horrible experiences that her protagonist endured. I frequently felt like I was supposed to guess what the character was doing or thinking. The whole book seems to be enveloped in fog and I was constantly casting about trying to figure out what was going on.

Overall, Achetenberg seems to have taken the idea of "less is more" a little too far. She needs to flesh out her writing to make it true prose. Devil-Girl is somewhere between poetry and prose and that is a tough place for both reader and writer.
… (more)
 
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Menagerie | 13 other reviews | Aug 26, 2008 |

Statistics

Works
4
Members
39
Popularity
#376,657
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
14
ISBNs
9
Favorited
1