MAY 2011 - AudioFile
It’s tough to find the connective tissue that binds together these short stories—except that none of the topics are pleasant. Narrator Bronson Pinchot does a great job with the clarity of the text, though a bit of horror and outrage in his voice would be welcome in some of the more horrible stories, for example, the tale of a wealthy fifteenth-century child killer. The stories jump around in time and space with quirky topics: selfish spies, a WWII soldier missing his girlfriend, avalanches in the Swiss Alps. One is set in the future, when Amsterdam is flooding. Despite the disturbing topics, each story is fascinating. One complaint, however, is the lack of demarcation from the abrupt ending of one story to the beginning of the next. M.S. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
The protagonists in Shepard's elegant, darkly tinged stories of love, sometimes misplaced, are searching for something. There's Freya Stark, the ambitious heroine in "The Track of the Assassins," who sets out in 1930 across the Middle East desert with only a guide, a muleteer, and Marco Polo's Travels. Or the narrator of "Netherlands Lives with Water," who grapples with changes in global climate, relationships, and life in Rotterdam, all the while searching for a solution and knowing deep down there isn't one. In "Happy Crocodiles," a miserable WWII G.I. stuck in New Guinea thinks about his stateside girlfriend and her puzzling relationship with his brother while trying to survive the elements and the enemy. As in his earlier Like You'd Understand, Anyway, Shepard's characters cover a wide swath of experience: Department of Defense black ops researchers, avalanche scientists, the inventor of Godzilla. Or they're 38 and living with their mother, like Martin in "Boys Town." There's humor in unexpected places, particularly as glaciers melt and waters rise in "Netherlands," which reminds us that though what we've lost might be different, we're all missing something. (Mar.)
Library Journal
Since Shepard's last short story collection, Like You'd Understand, Anyway, was nominated for a National Book Award, expectations are high for this latest effort, and it does not disappoint. There is no question concerning the breadth of research, ambition, and quality of writing that informs and characterizes this collection of short stories. In each story, Shepard displays a fascination with those moments when one world impinges upon another. Each character is mired in the past while simultaneously exploring bold new worlds and ideas, from the Arabian Desert to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). While the exotic locations and peculiar professions capture the imagination of the reader, they also accentuate the closeness each of the characters feel between the world they wish to transcend and themselves. VERDICT Shepard's range as a writer is on full display here, with multiple voices heard in various centuries and settings. His stories are as informative as they are entertaining. Readers who enjoy Andrea Barrett or Russell Banks will appreciate this, too. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/10.]—Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH
