Woodrell writes about violence and dark deeds better than almost anyone in America today, in compact, musical prose that doesn't dwell on visceral detail.

Besides his extension of tonality and tight motivic structure, Schoenberg makes use of another innovation, which he called "musical prose."

Written in looping, musical prose devoid of most conventional punctuation, "The Butcher Boy" is initially difficult to read.

Musical poetry, in a sense, has become musical prose.

Some words which narrate a story or describe a situation can be set in the form of musical prose and passed over fairly quickly, like the old recitative quoted above.

His cadences suggest a spontaneous fusion of the blues and the dense musical prose of James Joyce.

Although she is capable of writing sweeping, musical prose, Naylor does not often let it soar in this volume.

"The whole of this vision is clothed in a prose so stately, intense, and musical that it has been regarded by some...as the supreme achievement of De Quincey's genius, the most original thing he ever wrote."

Woodrell writes about violence and dark deeds in compact, musical prose.

As with Kincaid's novels, what stands out is her obsessive cataloging of subtly different emotional states in clear, looping, musical prose.