By Amy Fusselman
Narrated By Amy Fusselman
Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins
Release Date: 9-7-2018
Print Publisher: Coffee House Press

SUMMARY

Leaping from ballet to quiltmaking, from the The Nutcracker to an Annie-B Parson interview, Idiophone is a strikingly original meditation on risk-taking and provocation in art and a unabashedly honest, funny, and intimate consideration of art-making in the context of motherhood, and motherhood in the context of addiction. Amy Fusselman’s compact, beautifully digressive essay feels both surprising and effortless, fueled by broad-ranging curiosity, and, fundamentally, joy.

IDIOPHONE

PRAISE

“A recursive prose-poem contemplating addiction, dance, and the need for pathbreaking art. . . . [Fusselman’s] layering of her thematic ideas gives the book the feel of a mood piece—like a Steve Reich composition where riffs phase in and out—which makes it a pleasure on a sensual level.” —Kirkus

“. . . Fusselman bounds with great dexterity from theme to theme—covering topics including addiction, motherhood, gender, and art—until she has transformed the traditional essay into something far wilder and more alive." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“There is no mind quite like Amy Fusselman’s, and to be allowed inside it via these deft, singular, surprising sentences is to enter a vibrant wonderland where everything is new and nothing is a bore.” —Elisa Albert

“Amy Fusselman’s compact, beautifully digressive essay feels both surprising and effortless, fueled by broad-ranging curiosity, and, fundamentally, joy.” —The Rumpus

“Amy Fusselman is a genius with language, every sentence manages to surprise; they wend themselves into your brain—your everything, really.” —Nylon, “46 Great Books To Read This Summer”

2018 Talking Book