RaveThe New Zealand Herald (NZ)This whole big stew of a story is a joyful examination of love in its many forms ... This is a wonder of a novel, its dialogue is sharp and witty, its characters recognisable. I cared deeply for the whole of this crazy family.
Max Porter
RaveNew Zealand Herald (NZ)Max Porter writes incredible things. They’re generally short, poetic, exquisitely executed tales of tragedy shot through with beauty. Not an easy thing to do. Shy is brand new, and as enchanting as ever ... Shy is the story of a mind outside itself, unable to function rationally, to order the body to conduct itself how it knows it should. The story doesn’t offer any quick fixes or happy endings, but there is hope and there are soul-nourishing sentences penned by the hand of a master. It’s incredible, brutal, crude, sad and absolutely stunning.
Sarah Winman
RaveThe New Zealand Herald (NZ)There are so many layers in this story, so many people to love ... The interactions between characters are hilarious – the bickering and the loyalty in good times and in tragedy is wonderfully entertaining ... The descriptions of food and wine in the piazza, a community far from the East End but just as peculiar and the warmth of the summer and second chances is so alluring you\'ll be buying a bottle of Chianti before you know it ... What a beautiful, epic tale. Its humour and depictions of the best of human relationships will stay with you forever. This could well be my book of the year.
Richard Osman
RaveThe New Zealand HeraldThe plot is tightly woven and intriguing with lots of opportunities for the sleuthing reader to follow the clues ... The characters are an absolute delight and the author\'s skill is in convincing us that they are real, living in the South of England, baking treats and dabbing blood stains from their cardies. The Man Who Died Twice is possibly more riveting than the first book—absolutely delightful and one of those books that I highly recommend for any gender and age over about 15. It\'s a cracker.
Sally Rooney
RaveNew Zealand Herald (NZ)Sally Rooney\'s writing is populated by the most irritating, overthinking, self-absorbed characters you could hope to meet. It is this, I think, that makes them so real, so relatable, so likeable ... Is this how young people behave, analysing everything from their own viewpoint? If so, Rooney observes and paints this beautifully ... This is a novel of the inner life. Email exchanges between Alice and Eileen are meandering treatises on language, thought, modern life, celebrity culture, insanity. Things don\'t happen — they are discussed ... One of the most enjoyable facets of the novel for me is reading multiple viewpoints on one page, watching what Felix is thinking and doing at work just as Alice is thinking and doing stuff at home. Fascinating ... It\'s a touching novel because this is what people can be like. We love our friends but they drive us mad, too. I now know Alice, Eileen, Felix and Simon – I\'ve been to the pub with them, consoled them, thrown my hands in the air at their navel-gazing behaviours ... This is incredibly powerful writing. Rooney has done it again, and will probably hate the attention she receives because of it.
Colson Whitehead
RaveThe New Zealand Herald (NZ)This is so much fun. Mortal peril, race riots, seriously nasty criminals, the hot and sweaty streets of Harlem in the 1960s and a furniture salesman who has a hell of a lot going on ... Colson Whitehead puts so many beautiful thoughts on each page of his gentle, considered prose and brings New York and its people to glorious life.
