Praise for Golan's writing
'One
of the finest (and
most engaging) story collections I've read the past
year'
-- Philip Wagner, The Iconoclast
See full review
'A
dozen short but rich literary gems'
-- TaRessa Stovall, Montclair
Times
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enlarge
'Snap, crackle, and pop'
"It’s easy to like the lilt in Martin Golan’s writing:
his word choices are crisp and his tone effervescent. The twelve stories in
his collection Where Things Are When You Lose Them snap, crackle, and pop in
their examination of modern travails"
- American Book Review
See full review as it appeared .
or
on this
site.
The reviewer comments on each of the twelve stories,
which may of interest to readers seeking to compare
their views with those in a prestigious
literary magazine.
'Surprising and refreshing'
Dan
Weil, a Walter Mitty type, living with the fear that his
wife has been unfaithful, leaves his family for a little
while. A former freelance writer and stay-at-home
father, his daydreams and fantasies far exceed his
actual toils. "A little while" turns into days, then
months, as he reminisces about his life and
relationships and sexual obsession. He halfheartedly
builds a new life for himself in a new town, gets a job,
and starts dating again, with marginal success. In this
story of middle-class misery, Golan uses everyday
language to bring Dan to life, fleshing him out with
many unattractive, yet true-to-life qualities. For
example, his conversations seem like those one might
overhear in a boys a boys' s locker room, which is surprising in
this debut novel, yet somehow refreshing.
--Booklist, bible of American libraries,
American Library Association (ALA)
'A vast
human
neediness for romantic love'
Martin Golan writes of contemporary marriage with
humor and reckless
candor. He voices our marital anxieties, its
frustrations, losses and
joys. Somewhere between the lies we tell each other and
those we tell
ourselves, Golan finds a vast human neediness for
romantic love.
--
Ken Kalfus, National Book Award finalist
'Deeply wrought and affecting'
Martin Golan's debut story collection Where Things
Are When You Lose Them is a precisely written book that
shimmers in its humanity. This is no tough-guy read.
Golan has crafted deeply wrought and affecting stories
that point up the human condition in a way that made
this reader look closely, then again, at what is often
taken for granted about love: its ultimate rise and
fall, that is the core of these twelve enticing stories.
--Susan Tepper, Pushcart Prize nominee and
author of the new novel
What May Have Been
