PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewThe mystery of the Reeve urges the female protagonists — each without a husband at home — toward moments of self-discovery ... The horror surfaces only in the presence of women, who are as abandoned as the house in the periods between its inhabitants.
Khashayar J. Khabushani
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewHeartbreaking ... Khabushani writes movingly about K’s queer coming-of-age and his burgeoning identity as a writer ... Khabushani provides meaningful historical context for the pain passed down through these generations.
Ruth Madievsky
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewSurreal...a tender and hilarious coming-of-age story of two sisters ... A magical, dreamlike presence in a hallucinatory narrative that is also surprisingly easy to follow.
Melissa Febos
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... ambitious ... a feminist testament to survival ... Yet Febos isn’t relentlessly grim ... The compassion Febos has discovered for her younger self is inspiring ... I could have done without some of the other voices in this book — Lacan’s, Wharton’s, even those of some of her interview subjects — if only because Febos’s own voice is so irreverent and original. The aim of this book, though, is not simply to tell about her own life, but to listen to the pulses of many others’ ... This solidarity puts Girlhood in a feminist canon that includes Febos’s idol, Adrienne Rich, and Maggie Nelson’s theory-minded masterpieces: smart, radical company, and not ordinary at all.
