Jennifer MacBain-Stephens reviews The Everyday English Dictionary for Agape Editions.
A dictionary is such a hard sturdy object, a weapon almost, offering a weighty thud when landing on a table, and yet we cannot hold onto these words and images fast enough. Alvarez mingles the earth with animals and sounds, with someone’s mouth, it is a dream dictionary. We want it to be solid, we want it steadfast, but it floats along waves, out of reach. We cannot define our images, our memories, quick enough.