Reviews
“ An original novel about a timeless theme: the persistent difficulty of loving and well-meaning people to connect to one another.... Ohlin writes in elegant prose that is flush with wit and style, as clever and smooth as Lorrie Moore.... The closing lines of Inside are like a rose in winter bloom. Ohlin's novel runs with an undercurrent of hopelessness. Her characters have a hollow-ness inside. But Inside is, ultimately, a novel about hope. It begins with a gesture of despair and ends with one of promise. Who are these people? They are all of us. ”
“ Complex, delightful...[an] extremely readable blend of poignancy and sardonic humour.”
“ Spanning a twelve-year period, the story moves briskly between New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Kigali, and the Inuit community of Iqaluit. As the protagonists try, and fail, to establish connections with other human beings, Ohlin charts their small victories and larger disappointments. She is skilled at making her chilly cast of characters accessible, and even their most unlikely actions make sense, thanks to her tightly drawn portraits. And, while the novel’s premise is hardly comic, its Hollywood scenes show off the author’s satiric flair.”
The New Yorker
, on Inside“ Ohlin’s combination of smooth prose, thematic reach and structural ambition makes for a novel that is both easily accessible and demanding in the best of ways… What’s true of all good fiction applies even more emphatically here: Inside, though fully satisfying the first time through, all but demands a second reading. It’s something most readers will be more than happy to do.”
“ A subtle, intricate novel...As these lives intersect over a decade, barriers crumble, secrets emerge, and this emotional jigsaw puzzle locks satisfyingly into place. ”
“ Ohlin does a masterly job...This is an intelligent study of the inside that psychotherapists probe and the inside that friends and lovers share...a serious literary talent.”
“ These closely worked stories about life on earth - they soar. They do.”
“ Superb [and] captivating… Next to brilliant phrases and scenes of laugh-eliciting satiric jabs, there are brutal, heartbreaking circumstances.”
“ A short-story collection rich in piercing insights and slow-burning emotional truths...it shines with true-to-life situations and gorgeous writing.”
“ Can any of us really save another person? Or is each of us solely responsible for his or her own life? That's the question lurking behind [this] astute novel... Ohlin is a master short-story writer (see Signs and Wonders), and the early chapters may feel like discrete tales. Very soon, though, you'll see how they're all intertwined.”
“ A twisty, clever and captivating read...this cunning writer yanks you inside her world.”
“ Deliciously addictive...lit with emotional awareness and "aha!" moments of recognition.”
“ A writer who should be famous...Ohlin has as unsettling an old soul as Leonard Cohen's.”
“ Alix Ohlin’s wondrously engrossing Inside and Signs and Wonders display her characteristic strengths—dynamic plots, keenly observed settings, and characters so idiosyncratic, ambivalent, and contradictory they could be your family, your neighbors, people you work with…..She has a rare gift for examining the confusions of the 21st century, exploring the ways in which addictions, afflictions, attractions, and random impulses shape our lives. Her intense and beautifully shaped new novel and stories offer tentative yet illuminating answers. ”
“ You can't help but become invested in Inside. Ohlin displays a profound empathy for people at their least rational--and most human.”
“ Unputdownable: crisp, focused, lovely, and lasting. Ohlin's characters are so genuine you'll be reminded of people you know, love, and hate. ”
Marie Claire
, on Signs and Wonders“ The writing is sharp, flecked with details that catch your attention like a lure, just a few pages and you’re hooked.”
“ Gripping…. Ohlin covers vast geographical and emotional territory. With extraordinary power, she takes us inside the profound and fragile connections of her deeply human characters - each searching for salvation from the past while struggling to find forgiveness and redemption in the present. This story of surprising turns, grace, and compassion left me feeling that my world and my heart had grown larger. ”
Keith Scribner
, on Inside“ Wow is an understatement...I envy anyone reading it for the first time. ”
“ We're lucky to live in a world with a writer as gifted and as graceful as Alix Ohlin. This book is instantly engrossing, engaging, and moving. I began to think I lived inside of this beautiful and absorbing novel, so real were her characters, so complicated and human their plights. ”
Robin Romm
, on Inside“ Alix Ohlin is a crazy talented writer, smart and soulful. Inside is, in a word, stunning. ”
Beverly Lowry
, on Inside“ I love the way Alix Ohlin's stories teach us, with wit and tenderness, about those grown-up selves we don't recognize; about the way our failures make us adults; and about how powerfully relieved we are to understand that, despite everything, our hearts can still move. ”
Jim Shepard
, on Signs and Wonders“ Each story here shines, and is immediately involving. Ms. Ohlin has a marvelous will to explore and it's clear that she's in complete command of her art. These stories are smart, tough, deeply felt and beautifully delivered, without one wasted word. Signs and wonders, all right. I've seldom come upon a book so aptly titled for what's inside, page to page. This is first class pleasure for grown ups. ”
Richard Bausch
, on Signs and Wonders“ With an emotional intelligence that is nearly telepathic and a great storyteller's knack for riveting your attention from the opening line, Ohlin makes us understand that beneath everything that drives and distracts us there is, first and foremost, the struggle to love. She is a ferocious talent, a writer not only to watch but also to admire. ”
Adam Ross
, on Signs and Wonders“ I loved these touching, deeply human stories. Alix Ohlin writes like an Old Master, with confidence and clarity, a steady hand. She is immensely gifted, and every story here is a lucid chunk of reality—the flesh made word. Signs and Wonders is nothing short of marvelous. ”
Jay Parini
, on Signs and Wonders“ Smart, satisfying, surprising stories. Ohlin has a big, calm, seductive talent. ”
Joy Williams
, on Signs and Wonders“ Ohlin's stories are gripping from the get-go, and they don't turn you loose. On virtually every page she surprised me and, more times than I could count, she put a lump in my throat. She is one spectacular writer, and this is a beautiful book. ”
Steve Yarbrough
, on Signs and Wonders“ A radiant debut. . . . Smart and original [with] a Southwest so perfectly imagined the reader can smell the dust. . . . Marvelous. ”
Karen Heller, The Philadelphia Inquirer
, on The Missing Person“ A seriously entertaining and probing novel. ”
Andrew Ervin, The Washington Post
, on The Missing Person“ [A] polished first novel…Alix Ohlin is a sensitive writer, alert to the look and feel of things, and to the comedies and contradictions of her characters' obsessions. ”
Sophie Harrison, The New York Times Book Review
, on The Missing Person“ Ohlin's mischievously smart and highly entertaining debut [is] electric with unusual and sharply delineated characters, madcap yet purposeful misadventures, ready irony, and incisive ecological insights. [Her] lithe and intriguing tragicomedy reveals the vulnerability of both the psyche and the earth. ”
Donna Seaman, Booklist
, on The Missing Person“ This promising debut is intelligent, insightful and often bitterly funny . . . A knowing and witty take on family ties, the politics of art and academia, and eco-terrorism. ”
Publishers Weekly
, on The Missing Person“ Unforgettable. . . . Though many of her characters are suffering, the stories are never maudlin, and the people are sympathetic and real. . . . Passionate and warm. ”
“ With language intensely evocative and keenly focused on the nuances that define each of us as individuals, Ohlin delves into the lives of her characters—even in her shortest pieces—and reveals a depth to them, a poignancy, that is deeply affecting.”
“ Stories that tease, amuse, trouble, captivate, and offer fleeting comforts with every trembling denouement. . . . Ohlin stakes out the fertile middle ground between traditional realism and the new nod-and-a-wink fabulism.”
Benjamin Anastas, The New York Times Book Review
, on Babylon and Other StoriesRead the full review »
“ Ohlin's baroque imagination helps Babylon steer clear of unhappy suburbanites and other Cheever cliches, but the stories stay grounded with their complex characters and sparkling moments of insight. She's great at probing the moments that can change everything ”
“ This auspicious debut . . . isn't a mystery yarn or a family gothic, a romance, or a satire of radical environmentalism. It's all of the above and then some. Protagonist Lynn Fleming, a graduate student in art history, is a delicious snark, but Ohlin endows her with enough empathy and circumspection to give her a nuanced perspective on the book's events.”
“ Impressive . . . Ms. Ohlin's highly authentic plot is a rare success, a fresh take on the political contradictions of frustrated 'heartland' youth [and] the basic premises of her novel are natural, up-to-date, and good.”
“ A taut, tart chronicle of family life, with its scattered joys and nonnegotiable sorrows.”
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From the highly acclaimed author of The Missing Person and Babylon and Other Stories, a resonant novel of entwined lives and a woman with an unsettling ability to broach the innermost dynamics of the people around her.
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- @LeahJaneEsau @sarahselecky Congratulations, Leah! Really enjoyed your story.
- @emily_coon_ @sarahselecky Congratulations, Emily! Great story.
- @LeslieGreentree @gilesadam @sarahselecky Congratulations, Leslie an Adam! It was a pleasure to read your work.
