Woven: a story in two voices

I applaud Zan Isgett’s talented writing that gives us Woven with its quirky, lively poems and prose pieces. The reader is treated to the interior lives of Eleanor and Jack, both haunted by personal losses from the past. Their voices are, indeed, interwoven throughout the book—Eleanor’s in verse, and Jack’s in prose. The author unwinds the thoughts of each: the neurotic, metaphoric mind of Eleanor, who has isolated herself from a life she pretends to lead; and the brash, cynical bravura of Jack, a doctor who uses humor to steel himself from his own pain. The reader enters this world at the wonderful risk of becoming completely engrossed with the characters and their situations—to the point of wanting to jump in, take each by the shoulders and repeat the famous advice offered by the poet Rilke: You must change your life. Ultimately the seemingly separate lives, the emotional paths of Woven come together into a whole that is rich and satisfying. –Susan Meyers, author of Keep and Give Away