Dialogue Book Report #6: Irreversible Things

Lisa Van Orman Hadley joins Andrew Hall in discussing her autobiographical novel, Irreversible Things. Her debut literary work, it was awarded a Special Award for Literature by the Association for Mormon Letters. The Dialogue review of the book, by Sarah Moore, beings, “Judging by its length, Irreversible Things is the kind of book that I should have been able to finish in a couple hours . . . Like its diminutive narrator however, Irreversible Things demands to be read slowly. No, perhaps ‘demands’ is the wrong word—rather, this books sits down next to you, softly puts its hands on your knee and says, in a gentle Floridian accent, ‘wait honey, I don’t think you heard me right. Try reading that bit again.’ It took me weeks to finish this book, because I kept pausing to catch my breath, re-reading and re-discovering passages, and savoring a language that is heartbreakingly simple and poetic.”