RaveThe GuardianNick Drnaso has produced an extraordinary – and extraordinarily upsetting – novel ... Drnaso allows himself to think the unthinkable; one’s worst fears about the disappearance of a loved one are directly addressed and, in most cases, grimly and grittily realised. He at no point lapses into cliche or sensationalism ... rhymes and echoes of action are spaced throughout the story like landmines. No line of dialogue is wasted – Drnaso’s story doesn’t feel “plotted”, but as though it is happening just as one feels life does, even those moments of great emotion, such as a character’s unimaginable anguish and helplessness in the face of uncertainty, or the clinical interest one can take in the prurient details of a reported crime as a distraction from the painful realities of one’s own existence.
Adrian Tomine
RaveThe GuardianEmpathy rolls quietly through this book, sometimes dipping so low beneath the action you’ll fear it might be lost, then suddenly raising the characters so high above their lives you’ll feel it constrict your throat.
