About one woman's fine, hard life at the racetrack, Kick the Latch?with its ruthless concision and artful mysteries?is lightning in a bottle
Kathryn Scanlan's
Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman's life at the racetrack?the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner's circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the ?particular language? of ?grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody??with economy and integrity.
Based on transcribed interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer, the novel investigates form and authenticity in a feat of synthesis reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff's Testimony. As Scanlan puts it, ?I wanted to preserve?amplify, exaggerate?Sonia's idiosyncratic speech, her bluntness, her flair as a storyteller. I arrived at what you could call a composite portrait of a self.? Whittled down with a fiercely singular artistry, Kick the Latch bangs out of the starting gate and carries the reader on a careening joyride around the inside track.
