PositiveThe Barnes & Noble ReviewOne of Alvar’s greatest strengths as a writer is the sense of completeness she brings to her short fiction. We know everything we need to know about the world she creates in each story. Because these are long stories, Alvar never minimizes her characters or their experiences. The writing throughout the collection is meticulous and beautiful. Without a doubt, these are excellent stories ... The book, however, is not as affecting emotionally as it is intellectually. We are presented with a range of characters who are displaced and disconnected, who have unfulfilled yearnings, who have suffered immeasurable loss, and yet, I did not feel for most of these characters as deeply as I wanted. At times, the stories felt too long, like we were being told things we did not need to know. When the stories meandered, their impact diminished greatly.
