Hanky of Pippin's Daughter by Rosmarie Waldrop

From the Publisher

"These two novels explore the themes of physical and emotional exile and "between-ness." Each is relevant, accessible, and written with a rich blend of poetic language and withering critique. Writing to her sister, the narrator of the first novel tries to come to terms with her ancestry: What did her parents, two "ordinary people" in Nazi Germany, really stand for? How does their bad marriage resonate in the lives of their daughters? The Hanky of Pippin's Daughter aks whether we can really know the past or its place in our lives." "In A Form/of Taking/It All, Rosmarie Waldrop measures the highly subjective experience of her narrator in contemporary Mexico City against the historical, scientific, and political discourses that control her personal experience. Written as an epic collage, A Form/of Taking/It All is an innovative exploration of such disparate elements as Columbus's discoveries and the formulation of quantum theory, presented in an elaborate web of interactions that stretch the bounds of language."--BOOK JACKET.

Library Journal

yrical first novel continues the experimentalism that has been Waldrop's trademark both as poet and as publisher of Burning Deck Press. Constituting a woman's letters to her sister, it narrates the attempt of both to come to terms with their marriages and affairs between marriages. The cliche ``like mother, like daughter'' applies here, as they justify their actions by exploring their mother's escapades in pre-war Germany. Both mother and correspondent-daughter are musicians, and music provides a poetic metaphor intelligently sustained throughout. The narrative is fragmented, which can make it difficult both to tell a complete story and to create characters with whom readers identify. Waldrop successfully avoids these pitfalls, producing a stunning work. Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, ``Soho Weekly News,'' New York

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