PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of Books... obliquely angled, at times perplexing ... At time[s], [Wilson\'s] insights seem rhetorical ... It’s a not entirely persuasive analogy, yet in Wilson’s hands, it is often a brilliant one. She marshals literary associations with writers and landscapes across four centuries and a continent to show the rich simultaneity of literary culture. Literary context is her art, and it’s with virtuosity and passion that she elicits the contiguities of Romantic imagery and temperament in Dante, Shelley, Lawrence, and others ... The many who loved Lawrence in spite of his vicious fictional portraits of them fill out a rich canvas ... Wilson’s footnotes suggest that she made use of few primary sources here, mainly relying on published letters, memoirs, and previous biographers’ research even when quoting Lawrence. But then, Burning Man may best be considered as much a work of interpretive criticism as of original biography. As such, it’s fascinating reading, if occasionally, like Lawrence himself, akin to \'a radio station whose frequency keeps changing.\'
Heather Clark
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of Books... meticulous, magisterial, and surprisingly engrossing ... Deploying a series of new facts and deft character studies, Clark constructs a more nuanced view of Plath’s early life than did earlier biographers ... both balanced and compelling reading ... Clark inarguably achieves what she set out to do: to \'free Plath from the cultural baggage of the past 50 years and reposition her as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century.\'
Stephen P. Kiernan
MixedThe Washington Independent Review of Books... delivers the mild, pleasing-though-antiquated satisfactions of a World War II movie starring, say, Steward Granger and Donna Reed ... The \'weak-chinned\' but resolute young man learns to solder expertly — if way too slowly for readers’ comfort ... The portrait of the workstations and barracks at Los Alamos through Charlie’s initially innocent eyes is mildly interesting. As he becomes increasingly aware of the disturbing nature of his work, the narrative becomes urgent ... There isn’t a lot of suspense built into Universe of Two. Readers know long before Charlie does what he’s working on and how it will be used. They also know that for all the crossed signals between Brenda and Charlie, the two will marry and share a long and happy life ... A cloying note on which to end a sentimental but well-intentioned book.
Gail Godwin
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksGodwin is a splendid storyteller whose tales are richly layered ... This engrossing and accomplished novel about women’s friendship is filled with a score of lively minor characters, from Lovegood’s benevolent matchmaking headmistress to Merry’s stoic (and, as it turns out, painfully secretive) farm foreman and later husband. Old Lovegood Girls is a fine, old-fashioned women’s novel in the tradition Gail Godwin did so much to create.
