Caitlin O'Neil
French to English literary translation
*** IN THE MEDIA ***
“In this nuanced account, Harmange (I Hate Men) reflects on her decision to have an abortion … She uses her story as a launching pad to explore the politics of abortion and laments that taboo inhibits frank discussion of the 'feelings of ambiguity, negativity, sadness, and insecurity' that can accompany the procedure … Harmange excels at illuminating intersections between the personal and the political, and her willingness to probe her own pain makes for powerful reading. Timely and affecting, this packs a punch.”
— Publishers Weekly
"Abortion... tackles the nuanced grief of abortion from a pro-choice perspective. While Harmange writes from France, where the legal and social realities of abortion are different than they are in the US, her essay felt important and timely as states take a cudgel to reproductive rights post-Roe... Abortion can be the right choice, but still a painful one, and admitting that should not jeopardize our right to have one."
— Ella Dawson, Bros and Prose
*** BOOKSELLER PRAISE ***
"This is exactly what we need more of in the ongoing discussion around abortion, nuanced personal accounts of abortions. While Harmange makes no apologies for her decision to terminate her pregnancy, she does describe in clear detail the grief that accompanied her decision and the shame she experienced. The decision to end a pregnancy is never made lightly even when it is absolutely the right choice and it should not be an experience filled with shame that goes untalked about. Abortion is healthcare and needs to be discussed as such."
— Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver, Bookseller, GA
*** IN THE MEDIA ***
"This novel catalogs its heroine’s erotic fantasies and dreams with vivid, witty aplomb."
— New York Times
"[I]n its love for a preposterous and ever-changing desire, Gentlemen Callers is less a switch than a floodlight cranked to full power; it shines, into the corners of ordinary life, a diffusive and even humorous erotics."
— The Atlantic, “The Conundrum of Sexual Life in Today’s America,” Zoë Hu
"[Gentlemen Callers] takes seriously the realm of fantasy—not just as a space of discovery, where great perils might be safely explored, but as a structuring principle... For Hoex, sex is generative—in the metaphorical sense, of course."
— Bookforum, Beatrice Loayza
"A scintillating portrait of a woman in pursuit of pleasure."
— The Guardian, Hannah Giorgis
“Hoex pulls off the neat trick of presenting the passionately sexual without being conventionally explicit... it is nevertheless very deeply erotically charged. Hoex's playful approach is very enjoyable.”
— complete review, Michael Orthofer
“Hoex harnesses the female gaze [and] puts women’s desire front and center, subverting the common trope of men sexualizing women as they go about their day... The tone is playful, sometimes outright funny, and yet, Hoex’s narrator is totally in control.”
— Full Stop, Kaycie Hall
*** BOOKSELLER PRAISE ***
"Belgian short story lit-fic thirst trap (in the best possible way)."
— Douglas Riggs, Bank Square Books, CT
"Gentlemen Callers is, to put it vulgarly, a wet dream journal. Our nameless narrator finds herself transformed -- into an octopus, a pot of stew, a verdant forest, a babbling fountain -- each night for erotic encounters with men known only by their job titles. Hoex seduces readers through the diaphanous haze of dream with prose that's light, evocative, and titillating: the clumsy literality that bodice rippers deal in is a far cry from the playful abstraction you'll find in these pages. An enigmatic collection of sexy, sexy vignettes executed without a misstep, perfect for a quick fun read... but maybe save it for when there aren't too many people around."
— Terrence Hudson, Epilogue Books, NC
"Each night a woman falls asleep & dreams of a man on the outskirts of her life. In her dreams, our nameless woman takes shape as an octopus, a forest, a hunk of marble, a map. GENTLEMEN CALLERS is an exploration & elevation of sensual pleasure. It is a pointed challenge to our cultural assumption of valuing sexual pleasure as the apex of interpersonal existence--the most intimate, most prized, most sought-after. Using the zaniness of dream-logic to obliterate the narrow strictures of everyday existence, Corinne Hoex recasts the quotidian as foreign & sensuous. Hyper-intellectual, hyper-sensual, GENTLEMAN CALLERS is the most fun I've had reading in years."
— Jenn Fain, Changing Hands, AZ
"Short, slippery, surreal dreams of pleasure that usually eschews the blatantly sexual for the suggestion of a more abstract sensuality. Our nameless narrator transforms into a sponge, a purse, water in fountain, a dog, and various other objects as the seemingly bland and common becomes increasingly erotic."
— Jai Blair, Aunties, WA