The first quarter of the novel is dedicated to such astute and indulgent articulations of grief and selfhood. Oscar is exactly as smart and self-pitying as he should be, sympathetically real though he embodies the stereotype of a philosophy professor ... If Oscar is at least a three-dimensional stereotype, the other characters are not nearly as faceted ... In many respects, it reads like the sort of fantasy a man like Oscar might invent for himself. Or, that a novelist might create to perfectly test his protagonist’s integrity.
... a gripping thriller ... Mancusi’s writing is sophisticated, graceful, and deeply empathetic. Oscar’s descent into grief and his dark, nihilistic impulses are vividly described, while the story rockets toward a conclusion that is both inevitable and crushing.
For all its edgy, downbeat humor, the novel inspires a deep emotional investment in Oscar. The big existential questions that get asked are brilliantly framed by his antics. The payoff is, dare we say it, profound ... Brooklyn writer Mancusi's revelatory novel is a drug tale with a difference—even the chase scenes are philosophical.
While Dawn is flat enough of a character to drag down the scenes she’s in, Oscar’s struggles with his family’s pain and his own desperation are tenderly written, and his frenetic spiral into illicit affairs is both moving and humorous. Mancusi’s novel successfully depicts the long, mutating shadow of grief and depression.
