"Unsettling, mundane, and funny, Lacey''s fictions sometimes read as if characters let loose from Beckett were wandering through a recognizable, even realist landscape . [ Pew is] the logical and relentless development of this bold young writer''s previous work . Pew is a brave book, in both concept and execution." -- James Wood, The New Yorker " M arvelously elusive . I have thought about characterizing it as a work of Southern Gothic in the vein of Flannery O''Connor , as a political-religious fable reminiscent of Margaret Atwood , as a Shirley Jackson -esque piece of small-town horror, and even as a sly update on Mark Twain ''s great story ''The Mysterious Stranger.'' Each comparison seems right from certain angles and insufficient from others. Like its ambiguous title character, the novel resists definition." -- Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "Catherine Lacey, a fiction wunderkind who writes with dynamite, has recreated herself, and our ideas about what novels can do, yet again.
" -- Vulture "Potent -- and timely . Lacey is a gifted writer, on par with the best of horror writers at ratcheting up tension . Lacey makes a strong case against the human desire to size up and categorize the people we meet." -- Patty Rhule, USA Today "Told in Pew''s spare, elegiac voice, Lacey''s third novel is an ambitious story of compassion, cruelty, and belonging, as well as a powerful exploration of the dangers posed by white guilt and institutionalized religion." -- Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "The most impressive feat Lacey has accomplished in her newest novel is the ambitious construction of the narrator . a work that evokes the same presumptions and privileges in the reader as it does in its characters -- particularly those of the townsfolk . For anyone who values literature that tests commonly held standards regarding what a character should be and how they are developed, this is a book not to be missed. Its success at pushing beyond preconceived ideas about a character''s identity and narratorial credence will be discussed among writers for years to come.
" -- Ryan Smernoff, Los Angeles Review of Books "Lacey works at the provocative end of contemporary American fiction, and Pew is her sharpest novel yet: a tale of the quiet savagery of "good" intentions, and the tyranny - and ecstasy - of belonging . There is a fallen-to-Earth quality about Lacey''s amnesiac, androgynous confidante: part space alien, part unwitting, or unwilling, messiah; a kind of ethereal cultural anthropologist." -- Beejay Silcox, The Times Literary Supplement "Lacey''s fourth novel is splendid -- beautifully written and pleasingly concise, with an eerie atmosphere somehow perfect for times in which, as one character remarks, ''everything is just so strange lately'' . All this ambiguity might sound exasperating to readers as well. It''s not. I can''t over-emphasise how sweetly, swiftly and entertainingly this book proceeds, or how exquisitely the prose is crafted on every page." -- Lionel Shriver, Financial Times "Though the broad strokes might seem familiar, at every turn Lacey resists conventional developments . What''s most impressive is Lacey''s restraint--like Pew, she remains an observer, withholding judgment without sparing any detail.
A fabulist tale with no prescribed moral, Pew has the thrum of a foreshock, setting the reader on edge with the unlikely omens of hospitality and attrition." -- Danette Chavez, A.V. Club "This modern fable, written from and for an America consumed by identity politics, illustrates just how deeply embedded the impulse toward othering runs in this country . This highly disassociated relation between Pew and their body produces some of the most stirring, beautiful sentences in the novel while chipping away at society''s compulsion to organize itself according to how our bodies look." -- Connor Goodwin, Seattle Times "[Aror writers at ratcheting up tension . Lacey makes a strong case against the human desire to size up and categorize the people we meet." -- Patty Rhule, USA Today "Told in Pew''s spare, elegiac voice, Lacey''s third novel is an ambitious story of compassion, cruelty, and belonging, as well as a powerful exploration of the dangers posed by white guilt and institutionalized religion.
" -- Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "The most impressive feat Lacey has accomplished in her newest novel is the ambitious construction of the narrator . a work that evokes the same presumptions and privileges in the reader as it does in its characters -- particularly those of the townsfolk . For anyone who values literature that tests commonly held standards regarding what a character should be and how they are developed, this is a book not to be missed. Its success at pushing beyond preconceived ideas about a character''s identity and narratorial credence will be discussed among writers for years to come." -- Ryan Smernoff, Los Angeles Review of Books "Lacey works at the provocative end of contemporary American fiction, and Pew is her sharpest novel yet: a tale of the quiet savagery of "good" intentions, and the tyranny - and ecstasy - of belonging . There is a fallen-to-Earth quality about Lacey''s amnesiac, androgynous confidante: part space alien, part unwitting, or unwilling, messiah; a kind of ethereal cultural anthropologist." -- Beejay Silcox, The Times Literary Supplement "Lacey''s fourth novel is splendid -- beautifully written and pleasingly concise, with an eerie atmosphere somehow perfect for times in which, as one character remarks, ''everything is just so strange lately'' . All this ambiguity might sound exasperating to readers as well.
It''s not. I can''t over-emphasise how sweetly, swiftly and entertainingly this book proceeds, or how exquisitely the prose is crafted on every page." -- Lionel Shriver, Financial Times "Though the broad strokes might seem familiar, at every turn Lacey resists conventional developments . What''s most impressive is Lacey''s restraint--like Pew, she remains an observer, withholding judgment without sparing any detail. A fabulist tale with no prescribed moral, Pew has the thrum of a foreshock, setting the reader on edge with the unlikely omens of hospitality and attrition." -- Danette Chavez, A.V. Club "This modern fable, written from and for an America consumed by identity politics, illustrates just how deeply embedded the impulse toward othering runs in this country .
This highly disassociated relation between Pew and their body produces some of the most stirring, beautiful sentences in the novel while chipping away at society''s compulsion to organize itself according to how our bodies look." -- Connor Goodwin, Seattle Times "[As for years to come." -- Ryan Smernoff, Los Angeles Review of Books "Lacey works at the provocative end of contemporary American fiction, and Pew is her sharpest novel yet: a tale of the quiet savagery of "good" intentions, and the tyranny - and ecstasy - of belonging . There is a fallen-to-Earth quality about Lacey''s amnesiac, androgynous confidante: part space alien, part unwitting, or unwilling, messiah; a kind of ethereal cultural anthropologist." -- Beejay Silcox, The Times Literary Supplement "Lacey''s fourth novel is splendid -- beautifully written and pleasingly concise, with an eerie atmosphere somehow perfect for times in which, as one character remarks, ''everything is just so strange lately'' . All this ambiguity might sound exasperating to readers as well. It''s not. I can''t over-emphasise how sweetly, swiftly and entertainingly this book proceeds, or how exquisitely the prose is crafted on every page.
" -- Lionel Shriver, Financial Times "Though the broad strokes might seem familiar, at every turn Lacey resists conventional developments . What''s most impressive is Lacey''s restraint--like Pew, she remains an observer, withholding judgment without sparing any detail. A fabulist tale with no prescribed moral, Pew has the thrum of a foreshock, setting the reader on edge with the unlikely omens of hospitality and attrition." -- Danette Chavez, A.V. Club "This modern fable, written from and for an America consumed by identity politics, illustrates just how deeply embedded the impulse toward othering runs in this country . This highly disassociated relation between Pew and their body produces some of the most stirring, beautiful sentences in the novel while chipping away at society''s compulsion to organize itself according to how our bodies look." -- Connor Goodwin, Seattle Times "[Aes "Though the broad strokes might seem familiar, at every turn Lacey resists conventional developments .
What''s most impressive is Lacey''s restraint--like Pew, she remains an observer, withholding judgment without sparing any detail. A fabulist tale with no prescribed moral, Pew has the thrum of a foreshock, setting the reader on edge with the unlikely omens of hospitality and attrition." -- Danette Chavez, A.V. Club "This modern fable, written from and for an America consumed by identity politics, illustrates just how deeply embedded the impulse toward othering runs in this country . This highly disassociated relation between Pew and their body p.