In Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, David Shields does a sort of jujitsu on his reviewers. Swiftly and simply, he changes the frame until the book's impossible to quote from, conventionally, without seeming like a dork. And to even say why would be something of a spoiler. So read the book. It's five shots of espresso straight to your brain and a fun read to boot. You'll mutter arguments as you go. You'll realize with a jolt just how rare it is, anymore, for a book to actually feel fresh and make you think--and then you'll spit out your coffee, laughing at the irony of finding individual voice in wholesale theft.
Collage, montage, mosaic--these are forms I often roll my eyes at because unless they are masterful, they look lazy. This one, in my opinion, is brazen, self-absorbed, idiosyncratic--and masterful.
--Jeannette Cooperman, staff writer
