LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 9

desperately to strangers. The National Book Awards didn’t screw this
one up.

Making Nice by Matt Sumell
“Assholery is similar to masonry, in that both are primarily concerned
with putting up walls, shutting others out, hiding things, providing
shelter to that which is vulnerable, and protecting that which we can’t
bear to see exposed. […] Unlike masons, assholes like to destroy things.
And when Matt Sumell punches holes in Alby’s walls, he reveals the
troubled heart of a sensitive man. […] Every editor gets into the game to
find powerful, original voices and catapult them into the world, but it
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