RaveThe Christian Science MonitorBarnes’s storytelling is phenomenal; Shostakovich, as tragic and anxious as he is, is utterly fascinating. The story ricochets from one moment to another, with each memory acting as a piece of a patchwork quilt that will ultimately be sewn together to make sense of Shostakovich’s life.
Edna O'Brien
RaveThe Christian Science MonitorO’Brien’s story telling is raw, and at times graphic. Assaults and abuse are not glazed over. She wants the reader to face the ugly truths that many have suffered at the hands of genocide or painful cultural practices. But the beauty of the prose, which courses effortlessly across the pages, balances the horror of such instances.
