Her best in more than two decades ... The stories are about instability and shattered certainties ... An almost comically wide cast of characters ... The rap against Beattie, in sum, is that her work can be aimless, 'twee,' lacking in political and other convictions, plotless, a bit draggy. All feathers and no bird, marginalia in search of a thesis. She is too alert to the tender souls of the bolshy bourgeoisie, stirring groats on their Viking ranges. All these things are true at times, even in Onlookers. This book reminds you, more often, of why readers cared about her in the first place. She’s a dry yet earthy writer, in touch with moods and manners, with an eye for passing comedy ... She takes notes on her species, as if she were a naturalist observing robins. She pries at the mystery of life. There’s a strong feeling of convergence in her best stories.
Some of the bright sparks of hilarity and candor in this collection come in the form of maternal advice ... The stories are linked by place and character, though Beattie doesn't overemphasize the connections. The overall feeling of Onlookers is of being deeply immersed in a small town ... With melancholy wit and stunning details, Beattie follows the paths of many who share similar disappointments, and who might encounter one another on Charlottesville's downtown mall.
Supple, superb ... Beattie evokes Charlottesville in granular detail ... There’s a blurry, off-center quality to her characters; they don’t always reveal what we need to know. And yet her elegance offsets these cosmetic flaws, unpacking subtle variance between onlookers and bystanders: the former is more complicit, gazing on an unjust world while failing to intervene ... A candid look outward and inward, reflecting masterfully on selfhood and community.
This is more than character detail or observation; it is a central tension of the book. Onlookers is both a title and a state of being, as again and again, Beattie introduces people living at a distance ... There is no other option, Onlookers insists, except to carry on.
Beattie tracks aftershocks obvious and subtle following the deadly 2017 right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in six substantial, linked stories of exceptional subtlety and wit ... A virtuoso of decimating dialogue and provocative predicaments, Beattie is at her sharpest and most exhilarating in this nimble and surprising exploration of place, identity, and responsibility.
Full of ambivalent love, modern Southern charm, and contemporary concerns, the stories in this collection are timeless as well as sharply contemporary.
Smart and wry ... Measured prose and incisive humor make these stories shine. Once again, Beattie proves herself up to the task of pinpointing America’s contradictions.
