Plunges into the visceral, the sensual, are indispensable anchors in Dentz’s text. Sight—and not just sight, but visual texture—engages you at a bodily level.
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“door of thin skins” reviewed in Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction
This is not one of those books you read in order to find out what happened; knowing the end doesn’t spoil one single thing that comes before, because suspense about the plot is never the point. Surprise here comes from ways the narrator weaves the story, from the insights, images and sounds that emerge as she juxtaposes its elements, as we watch her
think about things he said. They run through my mind, a piece of yarn
unwinding so far until gnarled at a knot. I sit and ponder the knot.
At the knot is a feeling. I try to loosen it.
I can’t know what was in his mind….
The way it was on the outside and the way it was on the inside.
I want to take myself for granted. (16)
–“Based on a True Story: Young Tambling by Kate Greenstreet and door of thin skins by Shira Dentz” by Holly Welker
Read the full piece here
Grab the Lapels reviews “door of thin skins”
This is the painful and unrelenting tale of Dr. Abe, psychologist and psychic vampire, and his patient/victim, a poet (poetess, he states sibilantly, beginning the process of her dismantling on their first meeting, page 3) who uses language as instinct, as tool and finally as weapon in this masterful textual project.
Read the full review at Grab the Lapel
For Florenz: “Hands” by Shira Dentz
I would like to say that Florenz was the person at CKP with whom I had the most contact while my book was being made and I associate her presence with this book: her warmth, discernment, and enthusiasm were and still are very meaningful to me. My book was a vulnerable enterprise and Florenz’s place in it was and is part of its making.
-Shira Dentz
10. Hands
from door of thin skins
He splayed his fingers apart, their movement a Japanese pure, make-a-vacuum style, allowing them to twitch in all directions, implying cherry blossom petals dangling from boughs. He was a tall and fat man, his fingers incongruously refined, long and sculptural. Of course the fingertips flipped up. I say of course because even at rest he gave the impression that he covered everything; above and below.
How the very signal of that gesture enveloped to the point of obfuscating my senses. This is why it is nearly impossible to communicate, to hand over the experience.
He did it when he tried to make a point, but I tell you whenever he did it all I was aware of was the portrait he made with his hands. At their widest opening on their way down they were bird wings flapping—and the hole between the wings, where there should have been a body, was me.
The American Literary Review on "door of thin skins"
A smart, and often fearless,
discussion of the relationship between language and power.
Read more at American Literary Review
The American Literary Review on “door of thin skins”
A smart, and often fearless,
Read more at American Literary Review
Salamander reviews “door of thin skins”
These lines are a relief, but are also an example of how layout and letters work together in this collection to recreate the experience of the speaker. The layout shows both the writer’s visual aptitude and her awareness of how music makes a world. It is this understanding of the sounds of silence, and the look of it, that elevates this collection from therapy to art.
Read the full review at Salamander
Salamander reviews "door of thin skins"
Read the full review at Salamander
Chronogram Reviews “door of thin skins”
Chronogram Reviews "door of thin skins"
CutBank reviews “door of thin skins”
This book shatters […] It complicates the label of confessional poetry or memoir with its formal agility and its conceptual demands of its reader. It is a welcome addition to those books that teach us how to read a poem and those that teach us how to translate and interpret trauma.
Read the full review at CutBank
CutBank reviews "door of thin skins"
Read the full review at CutBank
The Rumpus reviews “door of thin skins”
Visit The Rumpus for the full review
The Rumpus reviews "door of thin skins"
Visit The Rumpus for the full review
“door of thin skins” reviewed in Rattle
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"door of thin skins" reviewed in Rattle
Read the full review at Rattle
“door of thin skins” reviewed in Diagram
And this is the triumph of door of thin skins, that with Dentz’s alchemy, injury gives way to aching beauty.
Go to Diagram to read the full interview
"door of thin skins" reviewed in Diagram
And this is the triumph of door of thin skins, that with Dentz’s alchemy, injury gives way to aching beauty.
Go to Diagram to read the full interview
Tarpaulin Sky Press on “door of thin skins”
“Reading door of thin skins, you will not be able to keep your equilibrium. You will flood with rage, but this rage will be punctuated with displays of dazzling language and interludes of humor. You will find yourself trying to catch your breath over and over as it spills from your spinning head.”
To read the full review, visit Tarpaulin Sky Press
Tarpaulin Sky Press on "door of thin skins"
“Reading door of thin skins, you will not be able to keep your equilibrium. You will flood with rage, but this rage will be punctuated with displays of dazzling language and interludes of humor. You will find yourself trying to catch your breath over and over as it spills from your spinning head.”
To read the full review, visit Tarpaulin Sky Press
“door of thin skins” reviewed by HTML Giant
“Dentz’s door of thin skins is a book to be devoured repeatedly. It is an important book from which to learn.”
To read the full interview, visit HTML Giant
"door of thin skins" reviewed by HTML Giant
“Dentz’s door of thin skins is a book to be devoured repeatedly. It is an important book from which to learn.”
To read the full interview, visit HTML Giant
“door of thin skins” reviewed by NewPages
“The world Dentz has created captures the narrator’s restless, reeling mind, as well as the cold disinterest of the outside world. The frustrations and hurt coexist, and yet the outside world continues to move on its own. Dentz’s collection is a powerful and unsettling art piece, delving into the psyche of a broken young woman who is surrounded by damaging people.”
Read the full review at NewPages.
"door of thin skins" reviewed by NewPages
“The world Dentz has created captures the narrator’s restless, reeling mind, as well as the cold disinterest of the outside world. The frustrations and hurt coexist, and yet the outside world continues to move on its own. Dentz’s collection is a powerful and unsettling art piece, delving into the psyche of a broken young woman who is surrounded by damaging people.”
Read the full review at NewPages.
