Summary and Reviews of A Brief History of The Flood by Jean Harfenist

Media Reviews

Chicago Tribune Harfenist has endowed her narrator with an eminent toughness and scathing wit that make being with Lillian the baddest kind of fun.

Entertainment Weekly Few authors [have] the grace and generosity of Harfenist, whose writing is almost dreamlike in its lyricism.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Wonderfully wry-melancholy ... An auspicious and stirring debut.

Washington Post Charming. . . . Jean Harfenist shows a sure touch with characterization . . . deft and subtle. . . . [Harfenist's] narration is consistently absorbing and enlivened by flashes of description that are unexpected yet completely in character.

Emily Carter, Minneapolis Star Tribune We root for Lillian because she’s an utterly convincing character, fiercely loyal and loving, [with] that rarest of gifts, a sane heart.

Gail Caldwell, Boston Globe A granite-tough perspective on a wild and sometimes dangerous childhood. . . . One thinks of the flinty poetry of Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, say, or the cocksure ease of Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. Hilariously wrought . . . without a whit of melodrama . . . equal parts humor and steel.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [A] luminous [story] about growing up on a Minnesota lake. Harfenist has spun gold out of the daily lives of the Andersons and their four children in Acorn Lake.

San Francisco Chronicle Harfenist's integrated themes and evocative prose style elevate A Brief History of the Flood ... giving it the satisfying, rounded feel of a good novel.

Santa Barbara News-Press - Lins Rolens Funny and sad and somehow good natured, [A Brief History of the Flood] brings us in to the painful intimacies and troubled hearts of the Anderson family. . . . Jean Harfenist explores the interface between love and dysfunction through young Lillian whose voice will stick with you long after you turn the last page.

Kirkus Reviews An unexpected delight tales about an unlikely girl that linger well after the last page.

Publishers Weekly The author's direct narrative style, though sometimes abrupt, gives Lillian's story a bright, three-dimensional quality. Readers looking for a fast, entertaining summer read with multidimensional characters will be pleased with this effort.

 Kaye Gibbons Rigorously beautiful without an ounce of dangerous pretension, a book I’ll put on my book club’s list and keep by the bed for dark nights when I need a language booster shot.

 Richard Russo Reading Jean Harfenist’s [writing] is like finding a hot slot machine in a casino. One winner after another? In wild defiance of the odds? Who cares. Stay seated.