Media Hits: HEAVEN AND HELL, NEAR DISTANCE, THE PASSENGER SEAT, and more!
IN THE MEDIA!
Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton, (Feb 4, 2025) was reviewed in the New York Times, just in time for the book’s pub date!
Joh Self writes,
“Stefánsson’s narrative voice is the book’s most striking quality. It has something in common with the ‘slow prose’ of Jon Fosse: run-on sentences, rich in repeated motifs, that tap into different layers of thought. A typical line in Philip Roughton’s translation is flexible and supple, telescoping from close-up to wider view . . . Once the reader is settled into the rhythms of Stefánsson’s prose, we’ll go anywhere with him.”
Get Heaven and Hell here!
The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was reviewed in the New Criterion! Amit Majmudar writes,
“Roland Allen has really chased the notebook everywhere it has gone in civilization . . . The history’s far-flung subtopics and divagations are arranged chronologically, and they all benefit from Allen’s unerring ear for the memorable anecdote. So the overall feel of reading a single narrative holds throughout, since the book has two through lines: the notebook itself in all its varying contexts, and the consistently engaging style of the author.”
Grab a copy of The Notebook here!
The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana (Mar 11, 2025) was reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada.
Kyle Wyatt writes,
“The Passenger Seat will both mesmerize and refuse comforting resolution.”
Grab The Passenger Seat here!
Hello, Horse by Richard Kelly Kemick (Aug 7, 2024) was also reviewed in the Literary Review of Canada.
Alexander Sallas writes,
“Innovative is the joy that Kemick seems to take in juxtaposing the grotesque with the comical . . . Kemick’s unique voice shines with these moments of tonal whiplash. By using dark humour to sharpen the impact of otherwise grim scenarios, he traverses the extremes of slapstick comedy and gory tragedy.”
Get Hello, Horse here!
Near Distance by Hanna Stoltenberg, translated by Wendy H. Gabrielsen (Jan 14, 2025), was reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Reviewer Sharon Chisvin wrote,
“Karin and Helene are stymied by their own recalcitrance, resentments and insecurities, and equally hesitant to admit to their own faults and failures. They behave like real people.”
Near Distance was also reviewed in the Complete Review.
“Near Distance offers a strong character- and relationship-portrait . . . The scenes from a life add up, in this compact novel, to a complete and yet all-too-human, unfulfilled life.”
Get Near Distance here!
