Permanent Party

“Permanent Party is – what? A Vietnam-era W.A.C.’s Catch-22? A roman-à-clef? A murder mystery? A poetic memoir? Barr’s ear for dialogue is flawless, her descriptions of human physiognomy hilarious. The dramatic rhythm is sporadic and punctuated, deliberately defying the breathless crescendi of fiction with the unresolved panics and careless lulls of real life in a gigantic bureaucracy. Small, throwaway bits of telling detail -- peeling paint chips, a dog’s sneeze on being patted, the smell of chicken frying -- give the entire book a sensuous texture. The characters in this woman’s Army are so steeped in weirdness they wouldn’t have been out of place in my college dorm (and we were the campus hippies).” -- E.J. Barnes, Tales Of The Ling Master