"Her work displays a lucid sense of humor and a debt to William Carlos Williams."–The New Yorker
"Notley developed her own ways of treating feminist thought, high and popular culture, and personal themes. This collection restores to print much of the unavailable work of this underground hero."–Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2006
"Always innovative and occasionally maudlin, the poems in Notley's latest book play haphazardly with figures of sound and speech. Showing the influence of ee cummings and William Carlos Williams, these free-verse poems are written as letters, postcards, and prose-paragraphs. ...In one of the most evocative and representative poems here, "Choosing Styles-1972", Notley suggests both the metaphorical and the emotional territory of her work. As she muses on the process of her poetry...she arrives at her subject: death. Although the ending evokes an uneasy resonance with ee cummings, it also shows Notley's talent for finishing a poem as opposed to merely stopping it."–Library Journal
"Notley's oeuvre is a rich field for exploration, and The Songs and Stories of the Ghouls is a wonderful place to start."–David Blomenberg, Sycamore Review
"This monumental book features selected work by Alice Notley, one of America's most enduring poets. Notley has strengthened and redefined alternative forms to traditional modes of writing. Her poetry is autobiographical but her linguistic and experimental skills carpet the personal with a timeless vision that transforms the deaths of family and loved ones into poetic dimensions of grief and startling revelation. Over the decades, Notley has built a rich body of work that cannot be categorized or contained in a complex poetic community. Her poems sing of commitment and the daring steps it takes to move away from the predetermined forms toward a level of discourse that fills fresh pages with nobility and courage."–The Bloomsbury Review
"The inexhaustible reach and ceaseless invention of Notley's vision make Grave of Light a thrilling testament to her greatest poetic gift: an unwavering faith in poetry's power to change the real."–Brian Teare, Boston Journal
"Notley developed her own ways of treating feminist thought, high and popular culture, and personal themes. This collection restores to print much of the unavailable work of this underground hero."–Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2006
