Last Stop To Saskatoon

A few reviews of previous books -

There is a constant poetic tone and musical sense in About a Girl. There are also some shrewd observations of great penetration…Nesca brings a largely unpunctuated and lyric flow of observation and thought. There is no plot in the accepted sense of the term although there is a progression in the relationship of the narrator and the young woman who ends up in the narrator’s apartment. In place of plot we have a studiedly precise description of a gritty life-style. It is a sufficient answer to pretensions and falsity in the dominant culture, sick with its material glut and fast food ethics. Through the narrator’s reflections we accumulate an unusually exact understanding of his aims and character. His life is not pretty and he may waver and wobble but he is grounded in honesty. He waves illusion away and sees life with a directness and acceptance that is refreshing and, rightly apprehended, renewing. --BOB WILLIAMS – THE COMPULSIVE READER –

 “The musical background is a strong influence in Nesca’s poetry. In the present collection there are references to Stan Getz, Billie Holliday, and Count Basie as well as to more current groups….”…” Tony Nesca is original and in the best sense tuneful…The musical influence is also apparent in the elision of superfluous words and in the multiply hyphenated words that slip and slide around precise meanings….” --BOB WILLIAMS – THE COMPULSIVE READER