PositiveThe New York TimesKarjel has a gift for the telling detail that reveals a broader story ... Every corner of this rich, rewarding novel features one or another subversion of stereotypes ... All this confounding of expectations is admirable, but that doesn’t necessarily equal enjoyable; in some authors’ hands, subversion can be buffoonery, and admirable can be didactic and tedious. Karjel’s characters, however, are nuanced, their relationships complex and the background texture evocative; his subversions are of a delicious flavor ... The plot? Not this novel’s particular strength. Although the setups are plausible and gripping, characters make too many credulity-straining choices that are explicable only in the contrived service of heightening drama, and the strands begin to fray as resolution approaches ... And in a novel replete with unusual characters and thought-provoking themes, there’s paradoxically not much in the way of plot twists. Still, Karjel offers ample pleasures along the way.
