I Failed to Swoon fails to swoon; it relays; it blurts; like someone breaking bad news to you, but about themselves and with no bedside manner, who then moves to sit somewhere else while maintaining eye contact; Nadia de Vries is a poet of barbed brevity, brutal idiom, figgety desire and delicious deadpan, like fresh white spit on a patent leather shoe; what can you do but hold up your fist of horns and believe her entirely? - Jack Underwood With aphorism, deep pith, and humor, Nadia de Vries delivers her sly lines and contrarian point of view with great force, making an uncomfortable music. I Failed to Swoon keeps it real. It has menace. This is a really fun book. - Peter Gizzi