PositiveThe Boston GlobeIlluminating these hidden lives serves to strengthen the larger story of the Dust Bowl. Egan nimbly moves his lens between macro and micro, balancing hard data and national conditions with portraits of people you come to care about ... Occasionally Egan\'s writing edges toward the theatrical, but more often than not his style swells to fit the magnitude of monster storms and scales down to the individual families trapped in mind-numbing poverty ... Egan has gone beyond statistics to reach the heart of this tragedy. The Worst Hard Time provides a sobering, gripping account of a disaster whose wounds are still not fully healed today.
Meghan MacLean Weir
PositiveWBURThe Book of Essie proves to be a tale built on timely, contemplative topics: like the perils of adapting too well to a life in the uninterrupted spotlight; whether it’s possible, or desirable, to escape the long reach of family; and ultimately, whether it’s possible to create your own self while still caught in the strong gravitational field of those who created and tried to shape you.
James Carroll
PositiveWBUR.orgNow seems a particularly apt time to read a thoughtful novel about standing up to political and religious intimidation, when too many countries are beset with a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes, and new scandals of sexual crimes and cover-ups by the Catholic church continue to unfold ... Carroll imbues each era with wonderfully specific details, like a 1950s coffee shop with its 'linoleum tiles, Formica tables … and round tin ashtrays' or how matins, vespers and compline define the daily rhythms of a 12th century French monastery ... For centuries, Abelard and Heloise have been celebrated in song and literature as one of history’s great romantic couples. Carroll’s depiction of them, based on their letters and Abelard’s works, highlights the spark and danger of the early romance, but focuses more on its long unhappily ever after.
