PositiveNPRRussell\'s novella is a quick, topsy-turvy thriller, that extends her oeuvre into Orwellian territory ... Although Russell\'s foreboding never really equates to true drama, it\'s her sharp, witty insights that elevate Sleep Donation ... As the story catapults into peril, some of the plot turns feel a tad forced ... And then there are some chapters that are far too short, sometimes just a sentence or a few lines of dialog, meant to illuminate a feeling within the blankness of a page. Rather than evoke any emotional response, they fall flat compared to Russell\'s full-bodied scenes. But by the end of this nightmarish dystopia, as Trish is taken to her wit\'s end on behalf of the sleepless, it\'s Russell\'s ability to balance the quirky and the absurd with psychological acumen that turns this unbelievable world into something more than dreamlike.
Jesse Ball
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewCensus may be his most emotionally affecting book to date ... While the census may sound like an Orwellian device, Ball is more concerned with his characters’ emotional lives than with authoritarian foreboding ... While Ball accomplishes the stated goal of his preface, bringing the son with Down syndrome to life, the census itself leaves a little to be desired. If the narrator aims to hear each citizen’s story, that which is 'most particular, most special,' he never shares enough details to make a lasting impression ... Yet the spare and episodic encounters do take us to some tender places...More than a dystopian tale, Census is a profound and stirring meditation on love, loss and paternity.
Matt Taibbi
PositiveNPR...where I Can't Breathe becomes most riveting is in the aftermath of Garner's death, as district attorney Dan Donovan fails to get a grand jury to indict Officer Pantaleo ... Taibbi isn't trying to win over any skeptics about Garner's case. He's a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, and his style is a distant cousin to the gonzo tradition of that publication. He's not afraid to make a character he deems villainous look buffoonish — like Donovan, who has 'a long neck ending in a small blond head, like a yellow lollipop.' Does Taibbi's style undermine his reporting? Slightly. But the legwork he's done, and hours he put into documenting Garner's home base, talking with his family and friends, and capturing the people of Tompkinsville Park make all the difference ... Garner's portrait is fully alive and breathing. But as I Can't Breathe grimly reminds us, the forces that killed him are equally alive, and as powerful as ever.
