PositiveThe Sydney Morning Herald (AUS)... [an] ample and compelling biography, full of enthralling quotes (and, for what it\'s worth, new bits of dirt).
Richard Ford
PositiveThe Sydney Morning Herald (AUS)Like Chekhov, Ford doesn’t write stories that are exercises in the lyrical mode but are bits of fiction that are whatever lengths they need to wrestle their subjects to the ground. The other distinctive thing about these shorter pieces, which often read as novel-like in their range and ambit, is that each has an Irish aspect to their subject matter that seems to reflect Ford’s time at Trinity College Dublin while also hovering around the states of Louisiana and Maine like semi-private fetishes or obsessions ... Grief and love are central to these stories, which show an old master at the height of his powers ... tremendous range and consistency. They have an elasticity that allows Ford to lasso any stray or poignant perception that floats into view. Yes, they are, by design, Irish, New England and Southern, but this deliberate vista of designations contain and disclose worlds.