Beauty is Convulsive

Praise for Beauty is Convulsive

A Chicago Review of Books Best Book of the Month

“Maso’s incantatory description of her conjured–up subject’s embrace takes on extraordinary power . . . like Frida Kahlo’s painting—impossible to look away from.” —Kai Maristed, Los Angeles Times

“Maso repeatedly cites Rivera’s description of Kahlo’s art as ascetic and tender, hard as steel and fire and delicate as a butterfly’s wing, adorable as a beautiful smile and profound and cruel as life’s bitterness. Without a doubt, one might apply these same words to Maso’s precise and poetic prose, which brims with emotion, imagination, intelligence, and beauty.” —Trey Strecker, Review of Contemporary Fiction

“An utter original, one of the true and plangent voices in American writing.” —Mary Gordon, author of There Your Heart Lies

“[A] consistently inventive writer. Maso’s prose has generated wide respect, making this an important purchase for libraries with literary fiction collections.” —Carolyn Kuebler, Library Journal

“There’s been more than enough written on Kahlo to fill bookstore display tables. This . . . may be one of the best.” —Publishers Weekly

“Maso, a highly original writer, distills her contemplation of Kahlo’s indelible paintings and vital diaries and letters into a supple, discerning, and haunting prose poem, a biographical meditation that elegantly charts Kahlo’s epic resiliency, artistic daring, unrelenting suffering, soul–saving ‘sense of the ridiculous,’ and glorious defiance. Maso’s spare yet lyric tribute, a genuine communion, is a welcome antidote to the mawkishness and sensationalism that is starting to blur our appreciation for Kahlo’s pioneering art and incandescent spirit.” —Donna Seaman, Booklist