Tag Archives: Review

by | March 31, 2020 · 10:30 am

Good Can Come From Bad: A Review and Comparison of “The Goldfinch” Book and Film

Posted by Hemingway Lovullo, Fiction Reader for 8.2

After polarizing box office reviews, with critics and regular moviegoers alike ranking the movie everything from one to five stars, The Goldfinch film seems to require a certain kind of taste to enjoy it. And indeed, the book it was based on is not for the faint of heart either.As an avid reader and moviegoer, my expectations for this story were very high. So imagine my surprise when I found myself, for once, liking the movie better than the book! It’s true, I devoured the book, in love with the writing and the characters–from bitter, pessimistic Theodore Decker to his alcoholic Russian friend (and lover?) Boris Pavlikovsky. However, I was unfortunately blindsided by an ending that seemed to betray everything I had felt for the characters in the novel.

(Spoilers ahead!)

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by | May 10, 2017 · 4:53 pm

St. John Fisher’s Best of The Angle leads to revival of journal as ANGLES

Posted by Oliver Diaz, Managing Editor

Like a shot of espresso, a Best Of issue is a short burst of concentrated content. Dynamic and packed with the best fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and cover art of the last 25 years, Best of The Angle is St. John Fisher’s literary espresso shot. Published in 2016, the anthology also features interviews with the authors alongside their revived writings spanning back to as early as 1956 and as late as 2011.

The joy of a Best Of compilation is in the consistent quality and The Angle delivers in all forms. Tom Hughes’ poem “OINK,” published in 1967, recalls the counter-culture during the Vietnam War, and, like all the work in the anthology, is complimented by an interview in which the author expounds upon his inspiration. On the other hand, full of emotion, distress, and mystery, Emilio Lopez’s story “Reluctant Brother” explores the relationship between two brothers as one tries to call the other back to the family. Lopez’s story is patient, chilling, and, according to him, verges toward the Twilight Zone. Continue reading →

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by | January 4, 2017 · 9:00 am

Supporting Developing Artists with Italics Mine

Gandy Dancer's Review of SUNY Purchase's literary journal, Italics MinePosted by Gabi Garcia, GD Poetry Reader for 5.1

This semester as I was editing for the Gandy Dancer I got the opportunity to review the literary magazine from one of our sister schools, SUNY Purchase, the art school of the SUNY system. The phrase Italics Mine refers to using italics in a paper to emphasize a word or phrase in a quote to bring the reader’s attention to your point. I think I’ve overused this tactic a few times when I was a freshman, so I was pretty excited to see there were other folks who share my enthusiasm for emphasis. What I think is wonderful about this title is that it expresses that there are moments, words, images in our lives and environments that are emphasized by artists and are defining for them as artists (emphasis, much like this entire blog post, mine). Continue reading →

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by | December 5, 2016 · 9:00 am

Nicole Reviews ImageOutWrite Magazine

ImageOutWrite

Posted by Nicole Pero, GD Creative Nonfiction Reader for 5.1

This fall I had the pleasure of visiting the annual Visual Studies Workshop Pub Fair and Litsplosion event in Rochester, NY.  I was immediately entranced by the work of Greg Climer, whose art is featured on the cover of ImageOutWrite’s most recent issue.  He uses different textile media, specifically quilts and knitted fabrics, to embody portraits and even to create animations.  The above image, titled “Portrait of Timo” after the subject, seems both serene and contemplative, both dreamy and tactile.  Similarly, the issues of ImageOutWrite, which I picked up contained pieces whose subject matter seemed both close to home and just out of reach.  ImageOutWrite publishes the works of LGBT+ writers, many of whom are established and lauded writers.  In short, ImageOutWrite collects the best LGBT+ writing all in one place. Continue reading →

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by | April 10, 2015 · 12:01 pm

GD 3.2 Preview: Featured Author Karin Lin-Greenberg

Two reviews of Karin Lin-Greenberg’s Faulty Predictions by GD staff members Sarah Diaz & Chrissy Montelli (see below). 

Written by Sarah Diaz, GD Poetry Reader for 3.2 & Poetry Editor for 3.1

A Review of Faulty Predictions: Stories by Karin Lin-Greenberg

As a self-proclaimed poet, I often find myself reluctant to read fiction. When I picked up Faulty Predictions, the genre ‘short fiction’ eased my concerns slightly, though I remained somewhat skeptical. The opening story of the collection, “Editorial Decisions” employs the first-person plural point-of-view and just like that, falling into the 2013 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction winner was easier done than said. The collection was published by the University of Georgia Press. Karin Lin-Greenberg received her MFA from University of Pittsburg, an MA from Temple University and an AB from Byrn Mawr College. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Epoch, Kenyon Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Five Chapter among others. She is currently an assistant professor in the English Department at Siena College in upstate New York. Continue reading →

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