RaveUSA Today... a painstakingly detailed look at orthodoxies around gender we\'ve failed to question, a society that still doesn\'t comprehend the impact of sexual violence and a culture that acquiesces to the outrageous notion women are responsible for their own safety, sending the message that when it comes to sexual violence, men aren\'t responsible for much at all ... Miller\'s memoir is an intensely specific account of the impact those 20 minutes had on her life, and on the lives of those closest to her. She writes exquisitely of her pain, makes us feel every fragment of it, but also expounds on the kindnesses that nourished her spirit along the way.
Joyce Carol Oates
RaveUSA TodayThe provocative portrait of two families on opposite sides of America's abortion debate is befitting the times in more ways than one ... Oates' American saga captivates because it exists within an actual drama playing out across the country. Morality has never felt less fixed, the martyr never more subjective. Oates’ prose is imbued with tumbling sentences and wandering constructions, a style that naturally fits with the narrative's ethical entanglements ... Martyrs is a graceful and excruciating story of two families who do not live very far apart, but exist in different realities. The tragedy is not the gruesome death of Gus Voorhees, but the ease with which the families brand one another as enemies. The saga ends neatly, which may seem incompatible with the moral ambiguity of the previous 700 pages, but it appears, to this reader at least, a gesture of kindness. Hope amid horror.
Carolyn Parkhurst
MixedUSA TodayThe story is darkly funny and suspenseful, with a palpable sense of dread that propels readers toward anticipatory horror. Parkhurst draws the Hammond family with depth and sensitivity. She writes Tilly profoundly, as an audacious girl fascinated by a world that will not bend to her ... The novel stumbles on Parkhurst's flimsy characterization of Bean, which renders him unconvincing as the charismatic but deranged sage who lures the family away from their home.
