MixedThe Washington Independent Review of BooksI found the 215 chapters of flashbacks and updates to be somewhat disruptive; while some are integral vignettes, others are gratuitous ... A number of characters from Lawton’s previous novels make cameos here — mostly, it appears, to create suspense or offer solutions to Wilderness’ various predicaments... That said, some characters are more cardboard than substantial, more contrived than essential, thus eroding the effectiveness of the narrative in places ... an entertaining read. Joe Wilderness exists in the novel — as do we readers — in the \'imperfect arrhythmia of takeoff and landing,\' not quite soaring, not quite grounded.
Chris McCormick
PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksMcCormick has offered us a well-written novel — a nuanced, lyrical tale of relationships and personal tragedy set against the metaphorical tricks of wrestling. The Gimmicks impressively characterizes the enduring nature of Armenian contradictions in which \'everything you’ve heard is true, everything you’ve heard is false.\'
Zach Powers
PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksAt the outset, I found the author’s use of official titles, the lack of real names, and the initial cardboard characterizations to be a potential liability. But as Powers develops the grounded Leonid’s earthly journey, we begin to discern a slow and steady reveal of the man’s skepticism, increasing self-awareness, and drive for connection and freedom ... defied my predictions. I thought the novel was going to be a satirical narrative of conspiracy theories that would concretize my simple view of Russians. Instead, Powers’ story about identity, individuality, and family is quite moving.
Amanda Sthers
PositiveWashington Independent Review of Books\"... a compelling novel of familial relationships ... Sthers spares us the predictable sentimentality that would rob her well-drawn characters of their complexity and their messy but necessary journeys ahead ... While Sthers may be guilty of loading up narrators with a fair measure of neurotic baggage, we are left with characters who bug us and endear us through their painful search for love.\
Denise Kiernan
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksKiernan’s focus of this remarkable history is the Biltmore. As an American castle, its hyperbolic magnificence still stands as a touchstone for grandeur imagined and grandeur lost. The Last Castle is contextually rich in social, political, and economic history of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Part diary, part journalism, part social critique, the book’s broad narrative humanizes the rich and effectively characterizes an era. Kiernan’s almost 100 pages of meticulous research notes and photos lend a reassuring gravity to the ethereal world to which we are introduced … Denise Kiernan’s layered work reflects the depth of the Vanderbilts’ influence on generations in the Asheville community. The Last Castle reminds us that the Biltmore’s obsolete extravagance really is a story of a community and those who were elevated by the Vanderbilt legacy and stewardship.
James Barron
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksJames Barron, in The One-Cent Magenta, tells a tale about the rarest stamp in the world, a story as compelling as fiction and as real as my childhood memories of collecting ...Barron’s story of a one-of-a-kind stamp is contextualized within its political, social, and economic history. The author follows that history as the magenta journeys from South America to Great Britain, France, and ultimately, the United States. The stamp becomes, really, the central, if not mute, anthropomorphized character in a kind of genealogical exploration spanning almost two centuries ...the real-life characters feel intimate and familiar. But his somewhat folksy style belies the significant research that undergirds the work ... That dull, ultra-rare one-cent magenta remains captured in amber. However, Barron’s layered, complex genealogy-of-motivations for the stamp’s suitors becomes the narrative’s yeasty and compelling attraction.