Toronto-based Lisa Foad’s writing is lucid, intoxicating and
original. Part poetry, part prose, The Night Is A Mouth tumbles
through a myriad of sex, drugs and longing. The post-modern short story
collection echoes works by Lynda Barry, Julie Doucet and Daphne
Gottlieb, but is in a league of its own.
An earlier version of “Violent Collections, Anxious Supplements,”
appeared in Red Light Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts, edited by
Anna Camilleri. The subtle changes tighten and strengthen the story,
while highlighting that all writing is process. Each revision, whether
it is an addition or subtraction, creates another version, raw
narrative or side to the story.
Foad explores various aspects of her carnival-ride cast of
characters, as they are brought to life with the gritty, bleak, wild
and beautiful reality of being human. She writes about the aftermath of
broken love and the predictable results of too much wine in “Expulsion
For Emetophobia.” Various aspects of sex and sexuality unravel
throughout the collection, found in polarizing moments, varying from a
horrific rape to the discovery of culinary-based masturbation in the
story “Lost Dogs.” Foad is bold, brash and fearless. No subject is too
dark to shed some literary light on.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.