Lively ... has the timing, wit, and warmth of a screwball screenplay that isn't allowed to idle for more than a beat ... Sthers captures her characters' distinct voices and dueling positions with practiced concision and obvious relish ... does get emotional. The wisecracks and barbs give way to sentiment — along with its soppy twin, sentimentality — as these characters break down the distances between them with heartfelt words. Sthers has a tendency to lay it on thick ... Are there miracles in Holy Lands? Well, maybe not. But Sthers' human-all-too-human characters do learn what's sacred.
Comedic and sorrowful ... quick-footed, perfectly choreographed, piercingly funny, and poignant ... s each articulate, conflicted, and ardent character endures life-altering experiences, Sthers incisively and provocatively questions crucial matters of religion, morality, inheritance, compassion, and love.
... a compelling novel of familial relationships ... Sthers spares us the predictable sentimentality that would rob her well-drawn characters of their complexity and their messy but necessary journeys ahead ... While Sthers may be guilty of loading up narrators with a fair measure of neurotic baggage, we are left with characters who bug us and endear us through their painful search for love.
