PositiveThe Washington PostRebanks continues his thoughtful meditation on the old ways ... As a tribute to a little-known tradition that may soon disappear, this is a lovely book, almost dreamlike in its lulling rhythms ... All this stillness could be deadening in lesser hands, but Rebanks carries the reader through with his humor and elegant prose ... However, the real animating force of this book is Anna Måsøy, who emerges as a stubborn, spiky figure with an almost religious zeal for her unusual labor ... Next to Anna, Rebanks himself tends to slip out of focus, and this becomes a problem in The Place of Tides ... The terms of Rebanks’s discontent remain frustratingly vague, even as he claims to be transformed by his time on Fjaerøy ... He is oddly reluctant to divulge specifics, so his personal journey is never entirely satisfying as a subplot ... Still, there is much to appreciate in this gentle, delicate book, which flows and ebbs like the tide.
RaveThe Washington PostThe real value of this collection is the opportunity it affords us to see the domestic, ordinary, everyday world through Garner’s eyes ... Keen observances.
Christopher Wallace
PositiveThe Washington PostSpirited ... Wallace blends biography, art criticism, reportage and essayistic digressions to create a portrait of a man so disillusioned with civilization that he sought to \'rewild himself\' ... Wallace’s thesis about a playboy intent on living according to his untamed impulses...is convincingly argued in Twentieth-Century Man, and the man is sharper as a result ... Wallace also drops any pretense at objective distance, preferring something more intimate and brashly opinionated ... A reader’s tolerance for...meta commentary will vary, though Wallace deserves credit for grappling so directly with many difficult subjects ... Wallace, a former executive editor at Interview magazine, is good at dishing up the gossip ... Less persuasive is the presentation of Beard’s ideas around conservation and the natural world ... Beard...was possibly a sociopath, fascinating to read about, but ultimately a bit frightening when you survey all the evidence.
Hanya Yanagihara
RaveThe Sydney Morning HeraldYanagihara\'s editor has publicly described the book as a \'miserablist epic\', and the label is apt. Surprisingly, the actual events rarely feel gratuitous in the moment of telling, even at their most baroque. There is no question of this being a work of realism. It is more akin to Greek tragedy ... But the violence and excess do serve a purpose in A Little Life , which elevates by the unflinching finale into what can only be described as a masterpiece of endurance. Yanagihara is not a sadist; rather, she is interested in pushing reader empathy as far as it can go, and interested in putting the concept of friendship under tremendous, vice-like weight. How much can we endure for each other? Do we stay alive for the wellbeing of our friends? Are friends enough to insulate against the injustices of the world? These questions are left hanging, ambivalently, but rarely have they been asked with such memorable force.
