"Meticulously crafted. . . . This first-rate collection demonstrates why Schwartz remains an American literary treasure." — Publishers Weekly
“ A grab bag of realist and experimental stories, each one a treasure . . . Wise, wry, and witty—theses stories in all their stylistic variations are perfect.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“This excellent writer has the great gift of making even the slightest of domestic situations feel richly alive to the pleasures we allow and the punishments we inflict on ourselves and one another. It is a joy to read this latest collection of her short fictions.” — Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments: A Memoir
“These wonderful stories about our need for connection and our sense of alienation are timely and timeless at once. Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a dazzling writer.” — Hilma Wolitzer, author of Hearts
“This elegant new collection includes some of Schwartz’s most surprising and satisfying short works, demonstrating anew her sustained powers as a writer, through an astonishing 28 books and 40 years.”Alix Kates Shulman, author of Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen
“[Schwartz’s] insights are at once sympathetic and drenched with irony." — The New York Times on Rough Strife
“Disturbances in the Field seems a more-than-welcome return to a classic idea of the novel... A wonder to read... I can think of no other contemporary writer who writes so well, with such rich sensuality.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Wonderful... It goes beyond literature and philosophy to a tough, battered truth.” — The New York Times on Disturbances in the Field
“A quiet masterwork of late 20th-century American realism.” — Kirkus Reviews on Disturbances in the Field
“The book has the architecture of a sonata.” — San Jose Mercury News on Disturbances in the Field
"[R]eading Schwartz is like a pleasurable visit with a thoughtful and articulate friend." — Kirkus Reviews on This is Where We Come In
"Lynne Sharon Schwartz reaches into her heart, examines its intricacies, tinkers with little broken bits, and shows us what she’s learned—daring us to try this risky procedure at home." — Los Angeles Review of Books on This is Where We Come In
“Schwartz is a connoisseur of anguish, especially survivor’s guilt, yet she is also an adept choreographer of romance. Incisive, unafraid to flirt with melodrama in pursuit of a compelling story, acutely descriptive yet to the point, she now brings to fiction the era-defining tragedy of September 11, 2001... [T]his is also a richly nuanced love story, a tale of earned trust and courageous receptivity in a time of fanaticism and war.” — Booklist Starred Review on The Writing on the Wall
Each [story] has an almost other-worldly aspect to it as if the narrators are not quite grounded in reality. Somehow, despite when they were written, many of them hit home during these strange morose months of 2020.
The book is full of invention, soul, and wit, and also marks a departure from Schwartz’s earlier fictional work, as it explores aspects of choice and behavior that verge on the fantastic and surreal.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a brilliant storyteller, and Truthtelling is filled with the kind of stories that will have readers thinking—and talking—about them long after they put the book down. If you are a short story fan, this is one collection you should not miss.
Wonderful... It goes beyond literature and philosophy to a tough, battered truth.
The New York Times on Disturbances in the Field
Disturbances in the Field seems a more-than-welcome return to a classic idea of the novel... A wonder to read... I can think of no other contemporary writer who writes so well, with such rich sensuality.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
The stories in Truthtelling offer us an invitation to the unknown in ourselves and in the world. Turn to the impossible, they tell us, and explore it. As artists, as writers, as people living our lives. We cannot help but do so, after all, since the impossible is going to show up if we’re ready or not.
The book has the architecture of a sonata.
San Jose Mercury News on Disturbances in the Field
Wry, tender, practically omniscient.
These wonderful stories about our need for connection and our sense of alienation are timely and timeless at once. Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a dazzling writer.
The subject matter and themes seem just right for our alienated, absurdist times. Full of comic fantasy and controlled loony desperation, the stories—from two pages to two dozen—put Schwartz’s inventive talent on ample display.
This excellent writer has the great gift of making even the slightest of domestic situations feel richly alive to the pleasures we allow and the punishments we inflict on ourselves and one another. It is a joy to read this latest collection of her short fictions.
There is a certain pleasure in coming late to the writing of such an accomplished and prolific author. A reader has plenty of time, these days, to work backward through her canon… It doesn’t take a global health crisis to learn to find solace in retreat, yet it’s difficult to read this as anything but prophetic.
Splendid short stories… Word by word, Schwartz chooses her language with a surgeon’s precision. Her craftsmanship is a joy to behold.
New York Journal of Books
[Schwartz’s] insights are at once sympathetic and drenched with irony."
The New York Times on Rough Strife
This elegant new collection includes some of Schwartz’s most surprising and satisfying short works, demonstrating anew her sustained powers as a writer, through an astonishing 28 books and 40 years.”
In Truthtelling Schwartz moves effortlessly between realism and fantasy. Her characters are not so quirky as the things that happen to them, and her introspective writing lets the reader know exactly what they are feeling. Her writing is clear, with lovely turns of phrase worthy of the highlighter… These stories are a treasure.
Schwartz is a connoisseur of anguish, especially survivor’s guilt, yet she is also an adept choreographer of romance. Incisive, unafraid to flirt with melodrama in pursuit of a compelling story, acutely descriptive yet to the point, she now brings to fiction the era-defining tragedy of September 11, 2001... [T]his is also a richly nuanced love story, a tale of earned trust and courageous receptivity in a time of fanaticism and war.
Booklist Starred Review on The Writing on the Wall
Filled with emotional appeal, the stories confront ordinary people, exposing their ordinary experiences and their ordinary dilemmas. The dreams and nightmares of these everyday characters, plucked from the streets of ‘everyman’s’ community, are explored deftly by the author.
"Lynne Sharon Schwartz reaches into her heart, examines its intricacies, tinkers with little broken bits, and shows us what she’s learned—daring us to try this risky procedure at home."
Los Angeles Review of Books on This is Where We Come In
Disturbances in the Field seems a more-than-welcome return to a classic idea of the novel... A wonder to read... I can think of no other contemporary writer who writes so well, with such rich sensuality.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
[Schwartz’s] insights are at once sympathetic and drenched with irony."
The New York Times on Rough Strife
Schwartz is a connoisseur of anguish, especially survivor’s guilt, yet she is also an adept choreographer of romance. Incisive, unafraid to flirt with melodrama in pursuit of a compelling story, acutely descriptive yet to the point, she now brings to fiction the era-defining tragedy of September 11, 2001... [T]his is also a richly nuanced love story, a tale of earned trust and courageous receptivity in a time of fanaticism and war.
Booklist Starred Review on The Writing on the Wall
The book has the architecture of a sonata.
San Jose Mercury News on Disturbances in the Field
Wonderful... It goes beyond literature and philosophy to a tough, battered truth.
The New York Times on Disturbances in the Field
Disturbances in the Field seems a more-than-welcome return to a classic idea of the novel... A wonder to read... I can think of no other contemporary writer who writes so well, with such rich sensuality.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Lynne Sharon Schwartz reaches into her heart, examines its intricacies, tinkers with little broken bits, and shows us what she’s learned—daring us to try this risky procedure at home."
Los Angeles Review of Books on This is Where We Come In
★ 2020-07-14
Subtitled “Stories, Fables, Glimpses,” Schwartz’s collection is mostly populated by New Yorkers firmly rooted in their lives—for better and for worse. The realistic stories chronicle the sweetness of long marriages and the lingering pain of death and divorce. In “A Taste of Dust,” selected for The Best American Short Stories 2005 , a woman spends the day with her ex-husband and his wife. She wants to believe her husband is miserable, with his teenage daughters and younger wife who mock him, but her feelings of pity abruptly turn to self-pity as she leaves. In “Truthtelling,” a long-married couple rekindles their desire when they reveal their lies and indiscretions over the years. And in “The Golden Rule,” an O. Henry Prize winner, a widow contemplates whether she’s helping an unlikable elderly neighbor out of kindness or simply acquiescing to the “cunning tyranny of the weak” and whether this difference even matters. In the experimental stories, or fables, which evoke Lydia Davis loosened from logical precision, Schwartz, who's 81, dissect the human condition. These forays into fabulist situations—a minor actress is mistaken for a concert pianist and whisked off to a performance, a cabaret singer gives away her babies because they aren’t perfect enough, a woman lets her “Faux-Me” take over for a day—are deliciously absurd while also building to startling revelations. In “The Middle Child,” a woman suffering from depression forgets about her daughter, adopted while she was in the darkest hours of her illness. “Can you ever forgive me?” the narrator asks her child. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long,” the daughter answers, “and we wept.” Though the situations are unbelievable, the emotions are not.
Wise, wry, and witty—theses stories in all their stylistic variations are perfect.
