The Physics of Imaginary Objects, by Tina May Hall

From the jacket: “The Physics of Imaginary Objects, in fifteen stories and a novella, offers a very different kind of short fiction, blending story with verse to evoke fantasy, allegory, metaphor, love, body, mind, and nearly every sensory perception. Weaving in and out of the space that connects life and death in mysterious ways, these texts use carefully honed language that suggests a newfound spirituality.”

My take: I picked up this slim volume from the library’s new book shelf by accident, mistaking it for another book whose title I can’t now recall. I kept with it because of its haunting, lyrical use of language. Hard to categorize, it’s probably less stories as the blurb suggests but instead a thematic collection of prose poems focusing on love and loss.

Because many of the pieces were somewhat distressing or disturbing, I can’t say that I liked the book, but I equally can’t say that I did not. I found myself entranced by it, pulled in inextricably as if caught in the book’s gravity, compelled to read page after page as if in a trance. If dark prose compressed into a few pages of lyrical narrative is your thing, I’d recommend this for its beauty.

Pages: 160