RaveNew York Journal of BooksMost stunning in this debut novel is Poissant’s remarkable facility and fluency with point of view. It’s an achievement to alternate between two main characters’ viewpoints. But taking on six characters’ perceptions, six interior landscapes, six psychologies, six personal histories and pathologies, six ways of seeing and interpreting the happenings of the past and present—this is a feat. No character thinks or feels or talks like anyone else—and their voices and perceptions remain distinguishable and consistent throughout 40 chapters. The effect is cumulative—by the third time we’re in Richard’s head, we know this dad and love him—his calm sweetness and his flaws ... Each character’s trajectory is masterfully rendered ... The sensory descriptions this author comes up with are gorgeous and rare ... For a perfect summer read, look no further. You’re not likely to find more beautiful, more distinctive prose anywhere.
Elisha Cooper
PositiveThe Huffington PostSentence by sentence, Cooper’s prose is admirable, as is his willingness to be self-convicting, to include in the book instances where his own behavior was less than flattering. Some Amazon reviewers criticize Cooper for being angry throughout most of the memoir. They see this as a shortcoming of the book. Rather, his ability to carefully select and efficiently flesh out for readers the precise scenes where his anger is most rampant, is a strength of the book ... My only criticism of the book is how little we actually learn about the girl in question: Zoë. He gives her only two pieces of actual dialogue, and a handful of times, paraphrases what she says. The memoir would benefit from more focus on Zoë, the kind we are treated to toward the end, at the trapeze class. Gorgeous, stunning portrait there, suspended.
