The Brooklyn Rail

In 2005, Charlie Harris, former English department chair at Illinois State University and editor of American Book Review, asked Kass Fleisher and me if we’d like to be involved in ABR. We agreed, and for a short while I became ABR’s Managing Editor and Kass became one of the Executive Editors. Charlie, Kass, and I were committed to bringing some renewed editorial energy to the publication.

Our first duty was to wade through the stack of reviews that had accumulated. One of the reviews was by John Domini. I wrote him an email, and he phoned me to discuss his review. At one point he said, “In other words, you’re asking me to do better.” “That’s exactly what we’re asking you to do, John.” And with that we said our goodbyes, and in short order we received John’s revised, dare I say better, review. That was John through and through, a real pro.

And now we’ve lost him. For my part I’m grateful for those occasions over the years, all too rare, when we three could socialize together at conferences, swap notes on current literary trends, even review one another’s work. RIP John, you will be missed.