Expertly done

A compelling book... [Jin] has a fine sense of the human scale of history and an eye for the absurd

[Jin's] new novel...again demonstrates his literary gifts

A fascinating tale told with skill and eloquence; a truly wonderful read

The Crazed...is a complicated web of human attachments. Like the best realist writers, Ha Jin sneaks emotional power into the plainest declarative sentences

Hilarious, bittersweet, and like the epic powerballad the band sometimes ends on, ultimately triumphant

a cleverly written and entertaining read'

For those of us who suspect all the mysteries of life are contained in the microcosm of the family, that personal relationships prefigure all else, the work of Jane Austen is the Rosetta Stone of literature

How could these novels ever seem remote...the gaiety is unextinguished today, the irony has kept its bite, the reasoning is still sweet, the sparkle undiminished, as comedies they are irresistibly and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be

That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with

The most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author's works

These tightly compressed short stories are deft portraits of people under extreme pressure, delivered with a surreal perspective that oddly serves to compound their power...her writing is superb: almost every word in this flinty, almost unbearably sad collection matters

It's a testament to her talent and her humanity that these broken lives are life-affirming in the way that only good art can be

Kennedy is attuned to the shock of separation, as well as the pain ... Kennedy is adept at different types of stories

A virtuoso of prose

A L Kennedy's short stories are rare pearls, all seductive surface and dark depths

What admirable richness and complexity

Kennedy has such control over her material that it never overwhelms the reader or becomes showily gothic

There's no denying that these utterly controlled stories have a power, humanity, and even beauty of their own

While What Becomes is not always an easy book to read, Kennedy's linguistic inventiveness, wild humour and compassion make it an unexpectedly joyful one

Twelve stories from the manic mistress of comically vitriolic observation

Savour this book

Kennedy specialises in acute observations of thought... In this collection of short stories, she inhabits unhappy couples, lonely shopkeepers and strangers in hotel rooms to searing, painful and comic effect

A virtuoso performance...This is a collection of stories that will be re-reading exceptionally well, like an album of brilliant songs you keep wanting to hear again

Funny and furious, Kennedy's tales of floundering marriages and domestic disappointment follow an anarchic path of their own

Kennedy's superlative work always attracts admiration