08/03/2015
[Tallent] brings an immense complexity and dimension to the domestic affairs of the heart. At times, these stories almost veer toward the epic, emotionally speaking, and are reminiscent of the muscular, sharp-eyed narratives of the late Robert Stone.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Elizabeth Tallent is, and always has been, a vivid, meticulous, and astutely inviting writer. These new stories vitally tell us how things are for us, in the most acute and memorable ways. Her ear is perfect; her gaze searing and unmistakable.” — Richard Ford
“Enchanting. . . . Immediately engaging. . . . The ability to create characters who force us to withhold judgment and leave us gasping at their absolute, solid reality isn’t the result of any special kindness or goodness on the part of the author. — New York Times
“Elizabeth Tallent’s style is so distinctive, and it’s the kind of writing I so enjoy, never obvious, full of complex thought and perception, so boldly ambitious.” — Tessa Hadley, author of Clever Girl
“In her fourth collection, Tallent explores the spaces between people through 10 expertly crafted stories. . . . Tallent’s collection offers a smart, thought-provoking study of desire and disappointment.” — Publishers Weekly
“Tallent’s assured voice is a pleasure to follow through this book. . . . An ambitious and wide-ranging set of stories that creates empathy for most of its characters due to Tallent’s generous imagination.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Driving, furious, erotic, gilded, the sentences flying at you like arrows...Her book is a meditation on the state of marriage.” — Tin House
“Mendocino Fire throws sparks.” — Vanity Fair
“Tallent’s characters are most nearly themselves, because of or in spite of love, and that is the rich truth of this book.” — Oregonian
“[Tallent writes] with a keen, quicksilver appreciation of her characters’ inner lives and with a poet’s eye for the luminous, skewed details of everyday life.” — New York Times
“Everything about Tallent’s work speaks of its delicacy and precision...brilliant.” — Chicago Tribune
“Excellent. . . . In these stories, [Tallent] continues to explore relationships on the brink of transformation.” — San Jose Mercury News
“A good short story is a visceral thing, but it is rare to find stories as elegant, as perfectly made as Elizabeth Tallent’s, that put a scare into us. Tallent is a magician: her characters get sawed in half by life and stand up whole.” — Valerie Trueblood, author of Search Party and Seven Loves
“The characters in these stories have been around the block a few times. They are often exes. But they are no match for Tallent, who, in a finely articulated style, shows herself to be quite deft at throwing monkey wrenches into the machinery of complacence.” — Carol Anshaw, author of Carry the One
“The first pleasure here is the glitter and darkness of the prose only Tallent can produce; but the profounder gift in these stories is the author’s empathy, a tireless empathy, her knowledge of her characters’ peculiar entitlements and pangs and assumptions.” — Louis B. Jones, author of Innocence and Ordinary Money
Mendocino Fire throws sparks.
[Tallent] brings an immense complexity and dimension to the domestic affairs of the heart. At times, these stories almost veer toward the epic, emotionally speaking, and are reminiscent of the muscular, sharp-eyed narratives of the late Robert Stone.
Enchanting. . . . Immediately engaging. . . . The ability to create characters who force us to withhold judgment and leave us gasping at their absolute, solid reality isn’t the result of any special kindness or goodness on the part of the author.
New York Times Book Review
Everything about Tallent’s work speaks of its delicacy and precision...brilliant.
Excellent. . . . In these stories, [Tallent] continues to explore relationships on the brink of transformation.
The first pleasure here is the glitter and darkness of the prose only Tallent can produce; but the profounder gift in these stories is the author’s empathy, a tireless empathy, her knowledge of her characters’ peculiar entitlements and pangs and assumptions.
Tallent’s characters are most nearly themselves, because of or in spite of love, and that is the rich truth of this book.
A good short story is a visceral thing, but it is rare to find stories as elegant, as perfectly made as Elizabeth Tallent’s, that put a scare into us. Tallent is a magician: her characters get sawed in half by life and stand up whole.
[Tallent writes] with a keen, quicksilver appreciation of her characters’ inner lives and with a poet’s eye for the luminous, skewed details of everyday life.
Driving, furious, erotic, gilded, the sentences flying at you like arrows...Her book is a meditation on the state of marriage.
Elizabeth Tallent is, and always has been, a vivid, meticulous, and astutely inviting writer. These new stories vitally tell us how things are for us, in the most acute and memorable ways. Her ear is perfect; her gaze searing and unmistakable.
The characters in these stories have been around the block a few times. They are often exes. But they are no match for Tallent, who, in a finely articulated style, shows herself to be quite deft at throwing monkey wrenches into the machinery of complacence.
Elizabeth Tallent’s style is so distinctive, and it’s the kind of writing I so enjoy, never obvious, full of complex thought and perception, so boldly ambitious.
[Tallent] brings an immense complexity and dimension to the domestic affairs of the heart. At times, these stories almost veer toward the epic, emotionally speaking, and are reminiscent of the muscular, sharp-eyed narratives of the late Robert Stone.
Everything about Tallent’s work speaks of its delicacy and precision...brilliant.
Tallent’s characters are most nearly themselves, because of or in spite of love, and that is the rich truth of this book.
2015-07-29
