PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewIn both plot and style, Hard Mouth feints and dodges. Denny’s short-lived seclusion, spent mostly on scoutlike expeditions, feels like a missed opportunity for a cleansing nervous breakdown, a confrontation with the anxieties that drove her to the woods in the first place. In crafting this novel about avoidance, Goldblatt elicits from the reader the same frustration Denny feels with her stilted post-adolescence ... Sometimes the narrative voice is almost too clever, but when Goldblatt’s on, she’s on ... Despite her slippery quality, I enjoyed Denny’s company; I was pulled through the book by a desire to know more about her ... if the book’s denouement ultimately left me wanting more, that isn’t a bad thing, not at all.
