A rare phenomenon in contemporary fiction: a novel both majestic and intimate, original and masterful in its structure, crystalline in its prose, revelatory in its insights, utterly devastating yet ultimately uplifting in its emotional impact. It is a radiantly intelligent and emotionally wrenching page-turner, the exquisite production of an author working at the height of her powers. I think it is her best novel yet ... It is a truly magnificent achievement.
Ann Patchett’s new novel, Whistler, is that loveliest of summer gifts, a story of reconciliation, of old affections renewed, of a family’s circumference enlarged ... A writer of gentle wit and quiet grace ... May be her most essayistic and in that sense her most confident.
A spare, witty and incandescent story about family trauma and the mysteries of memory ... This exquisite writer has once again delivered an incandescent work of fiction — sweet, but never sentimental, infinitely wise and suffused with love ... Patchett’s literary style isn’t of the show-offy variety packed with dazzling sentences and edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers. The drama is quiet. Her words accrue and gain power through their spareness and clarity, and a level of character development that forges an easy intimacy with the reader ... I don’t recommend consuming Whistler in one enormous gulp. I dipped in and out, savoring scenes, reflecting on them, occasionally shedding a tear. In other words, I didn’t want it to end.
The characters may well be good people—certainly that is how Ms. Patchett means to portray them—but their goodness is never put to any test, so it exists as nothing more than an affirming idea ... Goodness seems like too active a word for this novel; the principal virtue, instead, is solicitude. These characters are models of consideration, and Ms. Patchett has fashioned a writing style that follows their example ... I get the sense that this optimistic, relentlessly nice novel intends to provide some pleasantness during a hard time. This may seem admirable, but only if you ignore that you’re being treated like a 9-year-old.
Is there a place in serious literature for kind, happy characters and kind, happy stories? This intimate and entertaining novel makes the strong case that there is; as demonstrated across her work, such sturdiness of spirit is part of Patchett’s generous worldview.
This is vintage Patchett ... Patchett in a lighter register, its tempo brisk as a short story’s. It’s a drama of manners, a nostalgic interpretation of what family looks like in a rarefied space far removed from soaring gasoline prices, populist anger and Trumpian rage. It’s also a lament for our vanishing literary culture. It may lack the narrative heft of The Dutch House and Bel Canto, but it scatters a similar fairy dust across its pages, delivering its pleasures with wit and panache.
For a while, I wanted more time with Lucas and the bitter version of Abigail. I was getting impatient with the other characters’ maturity, a quality that doesn’t always make for good fiction. Then, in the middle of the book, I found myself in tears over a story Eddie tells 9-year-old Daphne about a horse named Whistler, drawing from a manuscript that came across his desk. I won’t spoil it, but it’s about survival too, and it involves its own series of miraculous returns ... The story is a little maudlin; there are even helpful ghosts. But in the tipped-over car, as the night gets colder, it’s exactly what Daphne needs to hear. I felt the same way.
What’s unique about Patchett’s novel is the ending offers no resolution ... Achieves a kind of literary immortality ... Readers who enjoy a prodding into a scab with a secret at the center akin to Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng or Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro will find similar plot architecture in Patchett’s latest novel—a story embedded within a novel, encased in an essay pouring into its center.
Is there such a thing as too perfect? Enter Whistler, Patchett’s new novel ... The past is held up and examined like a snow globe, given a pretty little shake. But what matters is the perpetual, beautiful now ... Whistler is top-shelf comfort food, the literary equivalent of pricey ice-cream. We almost care about these vanilla-bean people. Their floral arrangements; their silk blouses; their dinky sailboats. But it’s all so neat ... Often reads like a gratitude journal.
Wise, absorbing, moving, nuanced and wryly entertaining ... The go-to word to describe Patchett’s novels is 'warmth'. This is a deeply humane novel, but is also a fun read for its waspishly sharp-edged observations ... There is no risk in recommending Patchett — not because she plays safe, but because she is such an astute observer of human foibles. This generous-hearted, clever and poignantly revealing tale feels another sure-fire hit. Spend a day on the couch in its warm, riveting company and you won’t regret it.
The characters in Whistler often surprise each other and us ... Things people don’t say to each other loom large ... Virtually all of the characters are smart, kind and, it must be said, annoyingly well-off ... Patchett’s characters feel like people we know who behave in ways we recognize as they try to solve problems that ring true. They care for each other and, if you’re a Patchett fan, this will come as no surprise: You’ll care about them, too.
As has been the case for Patchett’s most recent novels, this work offers a clear-eyed account of familial evolution over the decades of a lifetime. There is a refreshing no-nonsense energy to Patchett’s prose that enables her to excavate the depths of human emotion without ever becoming sentimental ... As such a charismatic storyteller, her novels are great company. Ultimately Whistler itself is a testament to the transformative power of storytelling, where no stories carry more weight than those we tell ourselves, about who we are and where we came from.
The dramatic tension,...isn’t interpersonal but man versus the inexorable march of time ... Absence of edge can at times lead to a lack of narrative tension in her fiction ... Charm is less plot-driven than dialogue-driven. Daphne’s repartee with her entourage keeps the sentimentality just about in check.
Told with Patchett’s trademark subtlety and tenderness ... Whistler is a novel that celebrates the impermanence of our existence and the love that makes it all tolerable ... A gorgeous novel about a special love and the power of stories to provide hope, help us cope, and keep us connected to what we’ve lost.
While I wanted to love Whistler, I was never quite able to square how, in the age of Facebook, a woman such as Daphne could have gone her entire adult life without attempting to find someone who had, we were told, meant so much to her. This apparent oddity meant that I spent most of the novel fighting its premise, rather than feeling able to yield to Patchett’s considerable authorial talents. And that’s a shame.
The great Ann Patchett’s 10th novel, Whistler, will surprise you not just once but several times—but Patchett’s surprises are as sad as they are pleasurable ... Exceptional.
Every time Ann Patchett writes a novel, it is a gift to the reader ... From the first page, Whistler draws the reader into a complicated, yet witty, family drama ... Patchett has woven a rich, complex saga of love and loss destined to become a novel not to be missed.
The release of an Ann Patchett novel is an important event on the literary calendar, which is justified since we’re talking about the writer of The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto, and other acclaimed works. To say that everything and everyone in the world of Whistler is too nice is not a criticism. In an era where even romance novels come with a classic third-act breakup, Whistler’s biggest achievement probably lies in how it seems to envelope us, the readers, and its characters in a warm fleece on a cold winter’s night. And some days, that’s okay.
Salvation in various modes propels this resplendent novel rich in hilarious and poignant dialogue, cascading realizations, and profound and surprising moments of kindness, forgiveness, and love.
Exceptional ... The plot whisks along, its satisfying full circle returning to the Met, and incorporates a clever metanarrative twist. Whistler is quiet but surprising, witty yet heartrending.
Patchett is a clarion voice who can persuade any reader to devour her books without pause. Her latest is no exception, with strong characters, compelling circumstances, and the one detail on which lives can pivot to ruin or to happiness.
Perfectly executed and quietly profound ... Like many of Patchett’s works, this beautiful and generous novel feels effortless, never straining for effect. It’s one of her best.
