Disciples of brisk prose may grow impatient with Beaird’s participle-rich constructions and her penchant for simile, but the abundance of descriptive detail brings alive both the divorcées and the desert landscape in which they’re mired ... In Beaird’s painstakingly constructed world, there are no decent men or decent marriages, and you’d best not rely on the other women, either.
Lushly imagined, compassionate ... The Divorcées is tender and compassionate, wise and incisive, and gorgeously rendered, even in heart-rending moments. Lois's journey of growth and exploration forms a masterful and unforgettable debut.
A searing, painfully honest story ... Lois and Greer are brilliantly written, utterly different, and yet each of them is desperate, and both are willing to push themselves to extreme limits to discover who they are, what they want, and what they truly deserve.
Beaird’s debut has the hypnotic pacing and dramatic ambience of an old black-and-white film. Her research about the divorce-ranch phenomenon and its period expresses itself in myriad small, compelling details.
