Violence and death are balanced by hard-won, transcendent joy in Beard's remarkable stories * Spectator *
Jo Ann Beard is a remarkably modest writer, a kind of literary celebrity ... readers who become fans of her work view it with the kind of amazement associated with human and literal stars -- Mary Gaitskill
A towering talent ... Perhaps instead of an essayist we should think of her as a poet-naturalist, wedding intuition and observation, and forming from this union something unaccountably yet undeniably real * New York Times Book Review *
Jo Ann Beard is a formidable talent. Her writing is darkly moving, full of audacious narrative surprises, and, at times, unexpectedly - almost unbearably - suspenseful -- Geoff Dyer
Jo Ann Beard's work impresses me no end. Funny without being sitcomish, self-aware without being self-absorbed, scrupulous without being fussy, emotional without being sentimental, pointed without being cruel - I could go on and on with these distinctions, all in Beard's favour, but instead I'll just say that she is a fantastic writer, an Athena born fully formed out of her own painstaking head -- Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides
Reading Jo Ann Beard is like setting out on a walk with a curious and intelligent friend who is determined to show you how seemingly unrelated things share a secret kinship -- Adrienne Brodeur
Generous, beautifully observed, compassionate and, at times, genuinely funny -- A L Kennedy
Beard's curiosity and amazement are contagious * Financial Times *
Beard has a distinctive, arresting voice, whether she is evoking the frustrations of early childhood, describing desolately beautiful landscapes, or comparing notes with friends about breaking marriages * Sunday Times *
Beard's power comes from phrasings and insights that aren't just screaming for likes. Few writers are so wise and self-effacing and emotionally honest all in one breath... she effects an intimacy that makes us want to sit on the rug and listen -- Sara Lippmann * Washington Post *
[Beard's] books are worth the wait. A master of sensory details, she also writes with humor, melancholy and a love of animals that never borders on saccharine... In her work, even everyday moments gleam with significance -- Michele Filgate * Los Angeles Times *
A master of creative nonfiction, Beard explores life's most salient moments through facts that she sometimes fractures -- Amy Sutherland * Boston Globe *
Intimate, intelligent, intense - and ultimately comforting * People Magazine *
Charged with fine detail... Beard is so good at what she does... In Beard's book, writing works like compound interest, each experience building on the last, which built on the one before -- Ellen Akins * Minneapolis Star-Tribune *
Brilliant, like nobody else -- Elizabeth McCracken
