Reviews
“[With] sentences…swift and wise, landing often like a gentle slap in the face…Gustine casts compassionate light on her protagonists’ dark paths, delivering highly choreographed moments of humanity from the absurdly comic to the acutely moving.”
“Through crystalline prose and shrewd revelations, Gustine reveals the weight and complexity of the everyday through pieces that are anything but commonplace.”
“This carefully written collection of intense, sobering stories reminds us that the human condition is no piece of cake — but once in a while there are some tasty crumbs.”
"In this dazzling debut collection, Gustine shows tremendous range, empathy, and spark...Gustine’s language is uniformly remarkable for its clarity and forthrightness."
“The intensity of people we might pass on the street every day makes this collection all the more powerful…Gustine’s stories give the impression that in every life there is a story worth telling, of triumph and of pain, if only we take the time to look.”
“Gustine packs her short stories tightly, pitches them high and far, and they detonate on target…Her first collection aligns her with such short story stars as Joy Williams, Antonya Nelson, and Bonnie Jo Campbell.”
"Amy Gustine's enormously enjoyable collection...focuses on families under siege. These 11 stories, each ambitious in scope, drop us into one nerve-racking situation after another."
“This is a book well worth reading and rereading. It’s a deeply rewarding experience.”
“Amy Gustine displays a remarkable command of prose and narrative.”
“The beating heart of this collection is the delicate nature of relationships and Gustine’s wit and her compassion and love for each of her characters shines off every page.”
“Amy Gustine’s moving debut collection…contains an impressive range of stories about everything from conflict in the Middle East to child abuse and suicide. [E]very character comes alive with the emotional depth and empathy of Gustine’s writing.”
“Every so often, a book comes along that truly has the power to make you both laugh and cry — sometimes within a single page. Amy Gustine’s talent for unearthing the heartbreaking beauty within the seemingly mundane comes to life in this gorgeous collection. Each story unravels complexity that lives right below the surface — and compels us, in our own existences, to consider looking a little deeper.”