PositiveThe Washington Post...deliciously evil ... Awad is a stone-cold genius line by line. Visceral. Spare. Descriptions so accurate they feel invasive; like she reached in and grabbed the smartest darkest thought inside your head ... But if there’s one thing wrong with Bunny— and thank goodness there is one thing wrong with glorious Mona Awad’s starred Kirkus novel — it’s that it relies too heavily on genre tropes. (Which is kind of funny, because that’s absolutely the sort of pretentious thing these characters would say.) Fairy tale. Horror. Satire. Metafiction. Each one is cleverly layered into Bunny with cheeky references to Carrie, Heathers,, Greek myths and Disney princess flicks. It can be a bit much.
Minae Mizumura, Trans. by Juliet Winters Carpenter
RaveThe Washington Post\"...[a] gorgeous and intimate novel ... One of the most entrancing things about this novel is that it retains the rhythm of a serial even in bound-book form ... Mizumura’s writing is urgent yet thorough, and her plot — with its multiple divorces and infidelities, scheming, legends and deaths — just short of overwrought. But her prose is controlled and as dense as poetry ... Part 2 is a wandering, sometimes frustrating sequel to the very straightforward Hemingwayesque quality of Part 1. Yet so worth it. The resolution of Inheritance From Mother is natural and satisfying in myriad ways.\
Anne Lamott
MixedThe Washington PostThere’s no denying that Lamott is a superb writer. Her voice is one of a kind: deft, folksy, cheerfully hostile ... But Lamott stretches her theme to the breaking point. For the purpose of this book, mercy is defined and endlessly redefined as both the giving and the receiving of general forgiveness, compassion, kindness, tolerance, understanding, charity and/or acceptance...The problem with casting such a wide, vague net is that you can wedge practically anything into it ... For such a likable writer, it’s confounding that Lamott’s work is weakest when she speaks like who she is: the self-made leader of a literary cult ... But around Page 70, just when all seems muddled and brittle and lost, Lamott zings back into Hallelujah with her signature crackling warmth. She is witty and funny and smart.
John Donovan & Caren Zucker
PositiveThe Washington PostI wept and laughed and raged while reading In a Different Key, all the while thinking, Yes! This is my experience, including the raw and dirty parts, but also the wonder and joy. It’s the bones of a screenplay about what it’s like to be human in this particular, vulnerable way.
