RaveThe Washington PostColm Tóibín has an unhurried way of inviting the reader into his fictional world, like a perfect host who spoils you with delicious food and drink but at such a gentle pace you never feel overfed. Quite the opposite: When the feast is over, you are instantly ready to return for more ... Tóibín’s most intriguing stroke is the way he softly steps back from his main character to fully reveal and explore the stories of others ... A stirring journey, but its author does not showily dictate its speed or direction. He creates a heartbreaking world but does not impose it; instead, he parts a curtain and allows time for a slow, intense deepening of the drama behind it.
Anne Enright
RaveThe Washington PostWondrous ... Enright...is a master at dissecting family life ... If the internet is supposed to have caused a general dumbing-down, Enright shows how, on the contrary, in the hands of a truly inquisitive and deeply intelligent and creative mind like Nell’s, it can be a window into ourselves ... The novel is interspersed with translations of old Irish poetry — each poem is in direct counterpoint to or an accent on her themes. Far from feeling ancient, these poems have a language of their own that transcends time. Like the novel itself, they sing with grace and beauty and hard-hitting truth.
Aharon Appelfeld, trans. Stuart Schoffman
PositiveThe Washington PostDespite some stilted dialogue and a highly stylized characterization of Yaakov and Magda’s sexual relationship, Poland, a Green Land is a compelling novel. It is written with Appelfeld’s characteristic economy of language and powerful imagery ... Appelfeld’s unique literary achievement is his ability to also include the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity and their descendants in this psychological link between past and present.
