February 1, 2025
With dynamic prose and inventive plotlines, Play, with Knives cuts through readers' expectations, bringing them to the dazzling stage of the theater and through the backstage corridors of ambition and heartbreak. Exploring the boundaries between art and reality, Horn's debut novel follows a touring theater troupe as they struggle through financial hardships and changing relationship dynamics. This novel about artistic craftsmanship illuminates how imagination permeates every aspect of life, including our understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our environments. Horn's own skillfulness takes center stage; her clever use of theatrical language makes us question what it means to step in and out of character, to stay on or off script. Her story's spirited nature is further emphasized by the incorporation of multiple textual elements, such as scripts and mathematical symbols, creating a narrative as energetic as the train that carries the troupe. Witty, fun, and visionary, Play, with Knives is for readers willing to suspend their disbelief to journey through a sophisticated world of words, where imagined realities are both created and broken down.
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