{"id":488,"date":"2011-05-16T12:06:50","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T17:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=488"},"modified":"2011-05-16T12:06:50","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T17:06:50","slug":"missed-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/missed-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Missed Her"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coyote, Ivan E. Missed Her: Stories. <\/em>Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010. Paperback. 142p. $16.95. ISBN: 978-1-55152-371-2. <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Missed Her<\/em> is Ivan E. Coyote\u2019s sixth solo book, a powerful collection demonstrating Coyote\u2019s first-rate story-telling skills and ability to gently weave together topics, including the complexities of family, gender and sexuality, age, community (geographical, queer, and otherwise), and myriad other issues that all seem to point to the larger idea of finding one\u2019s \u201chome\u201d in a complicated world.<\/p>\n

These thirty short essays will leave readers wanting more, but with an awareness that they are written with the restraint and intention of an experienced writer and speaker. Coyote\u2019s humor and uncanny sense of timing shine through the many serious themes of this book, giving them a lightness that makes for a fun, while emotionally stirring, read. In \u201cStraighten Up,\u201d Coyote reflects on her heightened awareness with her appearance and behavior in relation to other people\u2019s perceptions of her, and the dangers that can result from her ambiguity. At a pit-stop in rural Northern Ontario, Coyote passes by three men outside, who \u201cstop in mid-sentence to check me out when I walk by. I nod politely, just enough eye contact to not seem suspicious, but not enough that I am looking for a fight. . . . Maybe they saw a dyke; maybe they think I\u2019m a gay man. There was definitely something about me. Goddamn Fleuvog boots\u201d (47). Later, at another pit-stop outside of Alberta, Coyote gets propositioned by a man, who opens by commenting on her dog, and Coyote wonders, \u201cIt could have been the little fluffy dog. Maybe that\u2019s what he saw. Or the boots. Goddamn Fleuvogs, get me every time\u201d (50).<\/p>\n

\u201cAll About Herman\u201d highlights Coyote\u2019s inclination to allow her subjects to tell their own stories, in a participant\/observer role, as she takes us back and forth from present to past through her attempt to record her ninety-year-old grandmother\u2019s history. \u201cLately her musings have grown somehow more poignant, more emotional, full of regrets (130). . . . I get the story from her in snapshots, short bursts, late-night kitchen table talk when the lips are loose with the whiskey\u2019 (133). Most of the essay is quoted from her grandmother\u2019s letters and talks, and seems to channel images from her through Coyote to the reader. As her grandmother talks about her first tumultuous love, we can envision, through Coyote\u2019s eyes, \u201cthe propane fireplace on in the living room and she is sitting with her legs tucked up beside her on the couch like she does. . . . Newspapers and magazines cover the coffee table, and she has a fresh cup of black tea with cream and sugar in it on the side table, next to a plate empty save for a scattering of toast crumbs\u201d (129).<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most enjoyable essays in the book are Coyote\u2019s playful musings on gender identity, sex, and sexuality, as demonstrated in \u201cHats Off,\u201d \u201cA Butch Roadmap,\u201d \u201cThrowing in the Towel,\u201d and, of course, \u201cBoner Preservation Society.\u201d I don\u2019t want to give it away. You will have to read it.<\/p>\n

Recommended for any LGBT collection, in school, public, and academic libraries, from adolescent and up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by, Jesse Nachem<\/strong>
\nRecords Specialist
\nUniversity of California in Oakland<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coyote, Ivan E. Missed Her: Stories. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010. Paperback. 142p. $16.95. ISBN: 978-1-55152-371-2. Missed Her is Ivan E. Coyote\u2019s sixth solo book, a powerful collection demonstrating Coyote\u2019s first-rate story-telling skills and ability to gently weave together topics, including the complexities of family, gender and sexuality, age, community (geographical, queer, and otherwise), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}