Mothers and Sons
Acute empathy and insight ... I have never read a more informed and vividly rendered account of Peter’s daunting profession ... Documents an emotional odyssey that in the end feels satisfying and real, and Haslett’s account of Peter’s life is unparalleled in its portrayal of a worker on the front lines of our immigration wars buckling under the weight of his burden.
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Too beautifully written to pass over; too smart about how secrets feed on time, perversely taking up more room in our lives as the years go by ... I fear I'm flattening Mothers and Sons into a melodrama, when, instead, it's Haslett's appreciation of the all-too-human mess of life that makes his writing so arresting; his characters and storylines so authentic ... An intricate, compelling novel about the power of stories and, especially, about the need to let go of those stories that keep people stuck. Maybe, in that sense, it's a fitting novel for the new year after all.
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Haslett, who is one of the most psychologically astute fiction writers in America, complicates this novel beautifully ... There’s a strange tension in Haslett’s work between urgency and introspection. Try as you might, you cannot rush this novel. It will inevitably slacken your pace — not with boredom, but with wariness. His prose lies on the page with the intensity of a loosely coiled copperhead.
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