Lots of ambitious books announce themselves; this one doesn’t need to. The first novel by Betsy Lerner...it forgoes all fanfare and conceit as it refines a 20-year coming-of-age into an elegant thread of taut, perfectly paced milestones. The prose is controlled, but neither virtuosic nor spare; the plot, enticing but neither Dickensian nor minimalist. Decidedly un-trendy, crescendo-less and restrained, this tragicomic family saga is a Bach prelude to the Rachmaninoff of a writer like Jonathan Franzen.
I disappeared into Shred Sisters, continually aware (as with all terrific books) of my reckless greed to press ahead, alongside a pang of regret that the book would have to end ... Try not to absorb too much advance press about Shred Sisters. Its bright, clean, gallivanting story rewards an open mind and heart with crisp prose, fresh plot turns and dimensional, dishy portraits we can instantly recognize ... Consistently packed with taut, sharp dialogue ... What comes at us, page after page, is new news, for which — laughter and pain alike — we’re ultimately grateful. The ride feels real.
Enthralling ... This is Lerner’s fourth book, and her first work of fiction. It’s exquisitely written, featuring pitch-perfect wit, crackling dialogue, and deep insight into the excruciating pain of being in a perpetual awkward phase ... Drama, disappointment, and despair thread throughout this bittersweet saga, but empathy, humor, and the narrator’s sharp yet loving powers of observation make it a joy to read. It must also be noted that in an era when so much contemporary fiction is dystopic, Lerner’s debut recalls simpler times, though minus sentimentality or nostalgia.
