Publisher's Synopsis
Both moving and deeply funny, We Still Have the Telephone illuminates Van Horn's long-practised miniaturist skills as an artist and her ethnographic curiosity as a writer.
In this mosaic of a singular everywoman, Van Horn describes a life laid out in detail, quietly registering the fuzziness of the line between eccentricity and madness: the Second World War exists on a par with plastic straws; immutable rituals with an irrepressible anarchy; and fragments of a multigenerational chronicle with anecdotes of sometimes-strange tokens of maternal love. Van Horn's creation is one of her most accomplished works to date.
'For a story that takes as its starting point the ongoing task of writing the obituary for its protagonist, this is a remarkably unsentimental book. Like mother like daughter: both abhor waste. Gathered here are 'details' that are unlikely to find their way into the final draft. These document the mother's rituals, and characteristic way with things: envelopes, coins, Broadway musicals, and the United Nations. We read these through the tender, amused gaze of the daughter, and the wry style that makes Van Horn's writing such a delight.' - Dr Julie Bates, Trinity College Dublin
‘It’s placid, careful and caring, only ever distantly ironic. Like Lydia Davis, but played straight, without the need to interrogate every word, every phrase. I’m enjoying it very much.’ – Jonathan Gibbs, author of The Large Door
‘Erica Van Horn’s astonishing attention unfolds galaxies from small things. A hard boiled egg or a blank gift card illuminate essential truths in this affecting and compelling portrait of her mother. Every word wrapped with infinite care. Tender and funny yet never sentimental. Smart, spare, and exact. And apparently effortless. A masterclass in depth from simplicity. More than that: it changed the way I see. I loved LOVED this book. The most perfectly formed thing.’ – Keggie Carew, author of Quicksand Tales
‘In a work as personal and universal as that of her fellow American writer-artist Joe Brainard, Van Horn focuses on the small but revealing particulars of her mother’s life; the loves, the hates, and the obsessions. Told, as only Van Horn can, with unaffected, yet sympathetic, candour, grace, and humour, the result is a subtle affirmation of the familial — the personalities and relationships, the memories, and the tensions that make all of us who and what we are.’ – Ross Hair, author of Avant-Folk
