Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller have the prose equivalent of perfect pitch.
There Is Only One Ghost in the World
Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller
2023
Quality Paper
ISBN 978-1-57366-203-1
EBook
ISBN 978-1-57366-905-4
Winner of FC2’s Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize
There Is Only One Ghost in the World follows the fragmented meditations of a multilayered voice, an intimate witness to our times that delicately and bluntly reveals the best and the worst in all of us. It is a kaleidoscopic investigation into the loneliness of modern American life as well as family relationships, exploring the truths and lies that families tell one another, and why, with empathy, sorrow, and humility. We travel from the oil-slicked beaches of California and the alleys of New Orleans to the steps of the Capitol. Here: the raw nerves of gender and identity. Here: the lessons of heartbreak. Here: true myths, fake news, and old rumors. Here: the legacies of art and incisors of seasons. Incompletable Venn diagrams, sibling porn stars, addiction and climate change, shootings and stolen x-rays, the lyrics of disco and the taxonomy of slot machines, steel monoliths and 99-cent stores, last meals and unearthed mummies. There Is Only One Ghost in the World is a book about what happened just before you woke up, and what happened just after. And what happened next.
Edgy and gripping, the slides in this carousel are not from last summer’s vacation. They are nerve patterns projected on the screen. Click after click, they give us episodic miniatures of loss and absence, first and last things, the guises of love … Sequencing is essential in a work like this — Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller have the prose equivalent of perfect pitch.
A deeply poignant work of both generosity and vision creating an indelible shape and told in lucid, luminous prose. Beautifully done.