Editorial reviews

Lundgren boasts remarkable comic skill, highlighted best when contrasting Trude’s crumbling infrastructure and culture with the endless font of needless capitalism.

Such a surprisingly compelling read and so apropos; it captures the mood of the current moment and what seems to be a new “lost generation,” one formed not so much by exposure to violence, as immunity to and alienation from it.

In urgent fashion, Dubois deftly evokes Russia’s political and social metamorphosis over the past 30 years through the prism of this particular and moving relationship.

DuBois evokes Soviet and modern-day Russia so finely and comically that the tighter and tighter interweavings of the plot sometimes suffocate.

That sweet feeling of settling into a satisfying read washes over you as soon as your eyes feast on the opening paragraphs of this mesmerizing debut novel.... duBois tells this gripping tale of political intrigue, romantic idealism, pathos and triumph over crushing obstacles in a political thriller at once heartwarming and heartbreaking.

DuBois tells a tight story with boldface themes. Drama is constant. Conversations get right to the point. Everything means something.

Catton is clearly a gifted storyteller with a strong interest in experimental narrative structures. I will undoubtedly pick up her next book.

"Brown Dog" is rich in character and incident, rude humor and melancholy. It is both heartfelt and ruefully real.

A trenchant, engaging read from a literary giant who, at 76, is once again operating near the top of his considerable skills.

Harrison is masterful at evoking the depth of even the least reflective existence, the love and longing, the failings of the body, the yearnings that will never be resolved.

With such simple, yet sprawling, beautiful and hilarious sentences, one can hardly imagine a world where art like this has disintegrated into ashes, radioactive trash heaps or stardust.

The Rosie Project is indeed an excellent, charming, feel-good story.

Maksik displays both realism and hopefulness about human nature without being unrealistic about either.

With A Marker to Measure Drift, though, Alexander Maksik’s deep belief proves warranted: he has succeeded.

“Marker” is a study of scarred consciousness struggling to come to terms with the violence done to it in a moment of cataclysmic horror.

Instructions for a Heatwave is never dull, never unconvincing, proceeding at a stately and crisp speed through a fully rendered world, grappling at all times and in an original way with the fascinating problems of our time, rushing head-long — and yet staggering almost drunkenly when necessary — towards a stirring and wondrous conclusion.

Ms. Kent aligns Agnes's hypnotic storytelling with the island's oral tradition. She uses passages from the 13th-century Laxdaela Saga, about a murderous love triangle, while delivering her parallel tale of seduction and betrayal.

Kent’s immersion in Icelandic lore seems total, though she came from the other side of the world. Great stories are universal.

First Novel is either far too clever for its own good, or far too good to be a debut. Which, of course, it isn't.

A sulphurous portrayal of masculine frailty as well as a sly poke at the caprice of literary fame, it’s hugely impressive and entertaining.