There are some rare books that feel like nibbling on the prettiest, most delicious biscuit. It’s only when you finish them, eking out the last few chapters because you don’t want to waste a single precious crumb, that you realise the biscuit was in fact a protein-packed three-course meal, and an exceptionally satisfying one — nourishment for life. The only reason you didn’t think this from the start is that the book was so intensely funny that you mistook its lightness for a lack of depth ... Katherine Heiny’s hard-to-top previous novel, Standard Deviation, was one such book, and to my mind one of the best, and funniest, novels of the past ten years. Her new one, Early Morning Riser, is perhaps even better ... about the nature of all kinds of love, about the deep pleasures and frequent exasperations of small-town life, about the joys and frustrations of families and domesticity, and about what, in the end, constitutes happiness. It is such a rich novel, each character neon-vivid and exquisitely drawn, with as much care lavished on the bit-part players as on the main performers ... Heiny also excels at writing small children and the scenes involving Jane’s classroom are cry-makingly funny ... weighty, tender, astute, more funny than I know how to describe and, in places, profoundly sad — Heiny can break your heart in one sentence. It takes the tiny stuff of everyday life and makes it big and meaningful. Quiet things become loud. You put the book down and feel glad to be alive.
... quiet whirlwind of a novel ... Heiny writes about small-town life without ridicule or slapstick, and never resorts to idyllic depictions of a long-ago day that never existed ... At its heart, this is a serious story full of lightness.
... may be this year’s funniest novel. There are not enough women authors on the Best Comic Novel lists, and she deserves a place on all of them, stat ... You have to pay attention to a book like Heiny’s. She’s not working broad, she’s working as a broad, a woman confident enough in her understanding of the world to take it all down a notch ... While Jimmy’s life isn’t the only plot in this sweetly sardonic book, it does link the main characters in ways that are just plain sweet, showing off the strengths of small-town life alongside its myriad flaws ... Like her comic-novel forebears — Flora in Cold Comfort Farm, Hazel in Made for Love and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando — Heiny’s delightful protagonist contains multitudes and leaves us wanting to learn more about her life.
... both fresh and consistently entertaining ... Though she mostly goes easy on her quirky creations, Heiny is unfailingly honest and never at a loss for a witty observation ... an amiable and observant novel with perfect pitch and plenty of grace notes along the way.
... great forbearance and more than a little contagious hilarity ... laugh-out-loud scenes seamlessly flow into deep consideration of what it means to be a family and the power of accepting one another, eccentricities and all. This irresistible delight is a much-needed balm during these unnerving times.
Heiny’s writing is amusing; she uses droll asides and odd thoughts to good effect...However, in the early chapters, the little jokes are relentless and begin to seem forced...Luckily, in the later chapters, the prose settles ... The constant cataloguing of such details makes the characters vivid but also keeps them on the surface. Only Jane has an inner life; the others, even Duncan, merely accompany her. She’s in charge of the story and she wants to keep it upbeat ... Occasionally, the mass of detail causes the novel to stall ... On the whole, Early Morning Riser is an entertaining, fun read, with more than a soupçon of heart. If the last year has worn you down, if you miss sitting and catching up with close friends over coffee or wine, this book is for you. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a drink, relax, and meet Jane.
The novel’s deft dialogue produces many of the book’s laughs ... Early Morning Riser closes with a literal cartwheel. It’s an exuberant and fitting finale. Grab the book and get up early, stretch out midday, or stay up late. This laugh-out-loud, good-humored tale is a head-over-heels delight.
... engrossing, tender ... With sharply drawn portraits and acerbic wit, Heiny captures emotions, bonds, revelations, and heartbreak in this tale of unconventional interactions.
It’s easy to adore the characters Heiny conjures in her novels and short stories. They tend to be quirky and smart, caring and passionate. Jane, the protagonist of Heiny’s gentle, funny new novel, is no exception ... Both Jane, ever hopeful, and Duncan, ever appreciative, are pure charm ... Told episodically in chapters titled by year and covering a span of 17 years, Heiny’s book finds beauty and humor in connection and community, family and friendship, and the way love can develop and deepen over time ... A heartwarming novel with a small-town vibe that sparkles like wine sipped with friends under backyard fairy lights.
This touching and fizzy comic novel by Heiny makes the ordinary extraordinary ... The author knows just how to pull the rug out ... Heiny surrounds Jane and Duncan with a full range of quirky friends and relatives who perform key roles in shaping their lives. A deep awareness of the ways the potential for tragedy lies just beneath the surface of small-town life gives the proceedings a sense of gravity and holds the humor in perfect balance. This is a winner.
