Charlesworth’s saga takes a sweeping sideways look at American ambition and even the great American novel. However, the tone is never cynical in this family tragedy. Rather, there is a beautiful sadness as well as mournful anger as Charlesworth evokes the loss following consequential choices.
Wrenching and often difficult-to-take ... or such an unabashedly polemical first novel, The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill works surprising well, due in large measure to the unremitting intensity of its prose, the unsettling verisimilitude of its characters, and the moral courage at the core of its message.
May sound far-fetched, Charlesworth makes the psychological and emotional pain of these children very real ... A powerful debut novel for fans of literary fiction and with special import for fathers and soon-to-be fathers
Sprawling, underwhelming ... Although the plot speeds toward this climactic reckoning, the novel suffers from muddled timelines and excess exposition. Charlesworth spends much effort establishing George Benjamin Hill as a symbol of American capitalism run amok but never delves into his psychology or early personal history to make him more than a foil to his children. Charlesworth’s debut has an intriguing concept marred by a hasty, underdeveloped plot.
