RaveWBURFor most of the novel, the details are murky and are more powerful for remaining so. When the tragic night is ultimately revealed in all its awful inevitability, Erdrich does so with a deep well of compassion for everyone involved ... Erdrich depicts time passing fast and slow, backlighting the rush of current events with the immense, slow turning of the earth ... At once a tender coming-of-age story and a wise tale of older love. The ever-afters here are scarred but hopeful, born of difficult choices and mercy for what can’t be undone.
Ben Shattuck
RaveWBURExtraordinary ... In so many of these stories Shattuck brings you inside the rhythm of ordinary days and within the commonplace, crafts a pivotal moment. Not a sudden dramatic lightbulb moment, but one that is, like so much of the writing in this collection, graceful and true.
J. Courtney Sullivan
RaveWBURSullivan’s historical research yields numerous sections with substantial depth. This is one of the pleasures of reading Sullivan’s novels: getting to know interestingly flawed characters in richly composed settings ... In a way, Sullivan’s sensitive portrayals of these demonstrate the power of reading fiction: how it can bestow both compassion and resilience on a reader. Alongside a character and at your own pace, you navigate through hard times. There is a great deal more hope here than sadness. In stories lost and then found, what you are able to salvage is all the more precious.
Sarah Braunstein
PositiveWBURUneven but quite clever ... Some storylines sag a bit before regaining a narrative foothold, and others that initially seem important simply fade into the background ... In a book with supple writing throughout, this writer also evokes the state’s climate and its landscape in singular ways ... It’s a credit to Braunstein’s craft that this tale, filled with incisive observations and often amusingly unflattering revelations about a few primary players, is also leavened with tenderness. With Maeve as teller of this tale, Braunstein plants just enough seeds of doubt, prompting you to frequently reconsider the actions of other characters as well. This makes for a slightly off-balance read, in quite an energizing way.
Dennis Lehane
RaveWBURThe latest in a long and rich line of novels, historical novels and literary crime novels ... Lehane is a rare writer who makes you want to read fast and slow at the same time. His propulsive plots compel you to keep turning pages. Yet, his profoundly perceptive writing makes you want to pause — to laugh at an exquisitely caustic description or to tend the hairline crack a character has just opened in your heart ... Small Mercies is too nuanced a novel to just show the loud surface. So much of the story flows from the maddening powerlessness over their lives that the Southie residents keenly feel ... What genuinely gives this novel texture is its language. Lehane is a master at authentic conversation, dialogue that feels like it just exited the mouth of a real person.
Laurie Lico Albanese
PositiveWBUREngrossing ... Hester posits an intriguing theory about the origins of The Scarlet Letter ... Albanese enlivens Hester with many era-specific details ... Much of Hester is about secrets, and Albanese persuasively illustrates how a secret can empower or corrode the spirit of the person carrying it ... In the book’s only structural distraction, Albanese alternates the main story with vignettes of Nat’s and Isobel’s ancestors. Less would have been more, so as not to slow the momentum of an otherwise compelling tale.
Ru Freeman
RaveWBURThough each story in this collection is an independent narrative, the inability to truly see others, and the consequences that ensue are a recurring theme ... Freeman is not afraid to linger in disquiet. The eleven individual stories tell of many kinds of heartache, more than it would seem a slim volume could hold ... Freeman’s ear for language is evident; each story in Sleeping Alone has a distinguishing voice and a writing style tailored to its content ... Too often, those most vulnerable to chaos (financial, personal, marital) are unseen. In this and other stories of Sleeping Alone, Freeman makes visible lives that are often hidden in plain sight.
Hayden Herrera
MixedThe ARTeryHayden Herrera offers a richly detailed account of her artistic and chaotic upbringing ... Herrera has a fine eye and impressive memory for period details ... But too often, she unfurls her life more as a timeline than a narrative, with consequential and trivial events rendered in the same tone. I often wanted the storytelling to slow down, to allow her adult voice to provide more perspective on her younger self. When Herrera does give traumatic events the space they deserve, they carry a powerful impact ... When Herrera ultimately describes her own adult life in contrast to her upbringing, she is able to frame her life and her parents’ later lives in thoughtful, forgiving and accepting ways.
