Sweet Eyes

Jonis Agee is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of several books, including Strange Angels, South of Resurrection, The Weight of Dreams, and Acts of Love on Indigo Road: New and Selected Stories.

"Physical closeness to the natural world underscores all the best imagery in Sweet Eyes. . . . Ms. Agee is a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the heart of the American landscape."—New York Times Book Review "A big, complicated book about small-town life, in the great American tradition of Faulkner, Willa Cather, and Sherwood Anderson." —Philadelphia Inquirer "This is a multileveled and sensitive novel about victimization and the struggle to defeat it. . . . [Agee] clearly shows herself to be a significant new novelist."—Chicago Tribune "While Agee demonstrates that the roots of psychosis and violence often start within the family, she also makes a case for the family's importance—and for the necessity of self-esteem—writing with fearless precision and evocative detail."—Publishers Weekly "Sizzles and oozes like hot asphalt. . . . [A] funny and street-smart memoir."—Charlotte Observer