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Matt's work has always struck me as distinctly male - and I mean that in the best possible way. His work is often narrated by men in the throws of transition, often caught in that liminal, searching space of their mid to late twenties. His characters explore the mundanity that comes from entering the nine to five world and desperately seek to find ways to escape. I've always felt that these types of explorations are tied to the male libido. What is interesting about this work, for me, is that Stephanie, a female protagonist, is no different.

In creating a central female character exploring a stereotypical male world, Matt writes away gender norms, allowing his female creation to also delve into the world of exotic travel, business, drugs, sex, and verbal repartee often held out to men alone.

At times, the work is almost voyeuristic - and always visceral - but it remains unjudgmental. One of the essential qualities of Matt's work is the lack of condemnation or congratulations passed upon his characters. They are allowed to live and make choices uninhibited by stringent rules of morality or fear of impropriety. They are fascinated by the unusual, the deviant, the decadent, and by the power of words - the intricacies of communication. Finally, it is this verbal sophistication - the wordplay - that seems to guide the construction, not just of Stephanie, but all of Matt's work.

No matter what their place in the world of the novel, each of Matt's characters are blessed with the gift of eloquence - or in the case of Etienne, a gracefulness that gets beyond spoken language - and it's this quality which makes the work distinctive.

Characters are free to move around their world in unconventional ways and with unexpected, abnormal results. But it is not the breaking of these norms which make Matt's work fresh - what strikes the reader is how economically and beautifully his characters talk about their experiences and the evocative way his words set them in a richly textured world. It is Stephanie's first view of her respite in Tuscany that sets us up for a compelling and sensual experience:

"From her vantage point on the edge of the wall, where it met the compact pile of adobe dust that had blown against the wall through the miracle of dune-forming wind, she was able to see into the darkness of the barn. Through the shifting shadows, she began to discern shapes - beams, portions of the plane and what could have been a family of feral goats."

Ultimately, the language is what makes the reader want to live in this world and experience it with Stephanie, no matter what her predilections. The language transforms Matt's work from a male novel to one that defies gender boundaries and speaks to all of us. Stephanie Doesn't Answer the Phone Anymore is a book that will, at the very least, make you want to silence the ringer on yours for a few good hours.