MixedThe New RepublicThe weakness of many of the essays in The Crane Wife is that Hauser tends to elide the subjectivity of her experiences in favor of sweeping generalities that don’t quite ring true—particularly in statements about the way women are and how they act, and hence the form heterosexual relationships tend to take ... It’s not only that generalities such as this one aren’t really true to life, but that leaning on them can steer the essays in The Crane Wife away from more specific and interesting and, paradoxically, universal territory ... When \'that’s the way women are\' takes the place of \'that’s the way I am,\' the anecdotes can feel pat and under-examined ... The tendency to generalize is a shame because Hauser is excellent at capturing the weird, beautiful essence of life when she deals in the specifics. The Crane Wife is full of fascinating, vividly drawn characters ... At points, the language can be a little too swashbuckling for my tastes, but Hauser’s writing has a genuine warmth and kindness that is entertaining and engaging in equal measure ... The men Hauser gravitates towards dating in her thirties are not well drawn ... maybe that’s the thing about morals and stories: Even us women don’t all see the same one.
