"Lundigran's characters are fully alive -- nuanced and flawed -- drawing readers into their plight in this rich, evocative novel." (
Publishers Weekly 20120803)
"Glass Boys is a suspenseful saga that explores themes of hardship and family relationships in an isolated village. It is rendered with haunting honesty and detail, right down to the outport Newfoundland dialect...Driven by deft plotting and vivid imagery...Lundrigan is expert at rendering minute but revealing detail about her characters and has a talent for conveying the inner world of young boys -- a world infused with real and imagined significance, where a toad or a jar or a roll of carpet can eclipse almost everything else...Lundrigan describes her characters with such thoroughness that the reader senses even the most the unforgivable could be understood with enough context."
(Meghan Potkins
Winnipeg Free Press 20110903)
"Glass Boys is a dark story and it carries a consistently weighty tone, yet the novel is laced with enough funny and tender moments between characters to spare it from being heavy or maudlin. Itís essentially a reflection on the power of relationships -- spousal, sibling, parent-child -- in shaping a personís life, and the effect on our core when those bonds are broken...Lundrigan's a great Newfoundland novelist everyone in the country should know -- if not by now, then certainly after reading Glass Boys."
(Chad Pelley
National Post 20110902)
"
Glass Boys is nothing short of a family epic. Evoking rural Newfoundland with a gritty grace that is all her own...
Lundrigan intimately explores the unbreakable ties between us, weaving a tale of filthy beauty that never abandons its quest for love and rejuvenation. At once remarkably touching and disturbing,
Glass Boys is an Atlantic saga, leaving behind traces of salt on the skin, and a familiar pang in the heart for anyone who has ever felt lost in the most familiar woods." (
Arts East 20111004)
"At its heart, Glass Boys -- a great title -- Is a story as old as the oldest stories. It's the battle between good and evil, and also a tribute to the amazing power of love."
(
Atlantic Books Today 20111001)
"
Lundrigan fearlessly probes the depths humans can sink to, but she manages, too, to find lots of light...The author has a gift for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary -- in a neighbour's kindness, for example, or in the comforting confines of a vintage store. And the prose is gorgeously vivid. This is
Lundrigan's fourth novel, and she's at the peak of her powers.
Glass Boys is a gripping story, told with immense skill and unblinking honesty." (Susan Cole
NOW Toronto 20110915)
"
Lundrigan is a generous writer, able to colour with many shades of grey, and tenderly allowing character to be a work in progress...By the end of
Glass Boys, a delicate study of despair and yearning,
Lundrigan's kindness and skill have led us to hope that (almost) every character -- bad, good or ambiguous -- feels safe enough to stay." (J.C. Sutcliffe
Globe & Mail 20110916)
"
Lundrigan writes about Newfoundland the way William Faulkner wrote about the American south." (
The Western Star 20080903)
"[
The Glass Boys] deftly walks the line between light and dark, hope and fear, rewarding the reader every step of the way with dazzling honesty and truth." (Ami McKay, Author of "The Birth House" 20101201)
"
Glass Boys, will...catapult
Lundrigan into the spotlight...Her writing is so enthralling, and the story so full of suspense and interest, that there is a temptation to allow the pages to fly by when they really should be savoured...Comparisons to other Newfoundland authors are inevitable, and while
Lundrigan's writing draws on themes of hardship, difficult family relationships, and abuse that will be familiar to readers of Michael Winter and Lisa Moore, her voice is strong enough to stand on its own. Perhaps, with her latest effort, she will finally earn the right to have up-and-comers compared to her." (Dory Cerny
Quill & Quire 20110701)
"This is a darkly atmospheric work examining the lasting power of love, loyalty, and family secrets. Readers who enjoy Annie Proulx and Kent Haruf will find similar themes in Lundrigan's work. A pitch-perfect novel with a writing style that shifts as easily as the characters' moods,
Glass Boys is a triumph." (Stephanie Turza
Booklist 20120801)
"With the release of
Glass Boys, [
Nicole Lundrigan will] finally be crowned one of the great contemporary Newfoundland novelists. " (Chad Pelley
Salty Ink 20110812)
