Bright Shards of Someplace Else

Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction

A 2014 NPR "Great Read"

A 2015 Michigan Notable Book

Ohioana Book Award Finalist

2015-05-13T15:34:11-04:00

Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction A 2014 NPR "Great Read" A 2015 Michigan Notable Book Ohioana Book Award Finalist

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/flannery-oconnor-award-for-short-fiction-a-2015-michigan-notable-book-a-2014-npr-great-read/

McFawn’s empathy is astounding. The rarest kind of literary debut—unpredictable and moving.

Kirkus (Starred Review)

2015-05-13T14:25:39-04:00

Kirkus (Starred Review)

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/the-rarest-kind-of-literary-debut-unpredictable-and-moving/

Like some newly discovered newt or loris that alters our view of an entire species, this book is strange and thrilling and very beautiful. I loved these stories.

Daniel Orozco, author of Orientation

2015-05-13T14:59:11-04:00

Daniel Orozco, author of Orientation

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/like-some-newly-discovered-newt-or-loris-that-alters-our-view-of-an-entire-species-this-book-is-strange-and-thrilling-and-very-beautiful-i-loved-these-stories/

What McFawn brings with her first collection is a return of the story collection’s sense of potential, to its ability of wholesale reinvention each handful of pages.

Barrett Hathcock, Open Letters Monthly

2015-05-20T12:47:30-04:00

Barrett Hathcock, Open Letters Monthly

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/each-of-its-eleven-stories-postures-like-a-dare-accepted-what-mcfawn-brings-with-her-first-collection-is-a-return-of-the-story-collections-sense-of-potential-to-its-ability-of-whol/

McFawn’s effervescent writing helps us both to see anew, and to recognize ourselves.

Caitlin Horrocks, author of This is Not Your City

2015-05-13T15:00:40-04:00

Caitlin Horrocks, author of This is Not Your City

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/her-stories-are-fresh-and-often-wonderfully-strange-but-also-deeply-insightful-and-emotionally-complex-mcfawns-effervescent-writing-helps-us-both-to-see-anew-and-to-recognize-ourselves/

What a strange and wondrous band of misfits, isolatos, geniuses, and obsessives of every stripe populates Monica McFawn’s Bright Shards of Someplace Else.

Jaimy Gordon, National Book Award Winner, Lord of Misrule

 

2015-05-13T15:30:23-04:00

Jaimy Gordon, National Book Award Winner, Lord of Misrule  

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/what-a-strange-and-wondrous-band-of-misfits-isolatos-geniuses-and-obsessives-of-every-stripe-populates-monica-mcfawns-bright-shards-of-someplace-else-2/

McFawn has talent. In these 11 stories she manages to range from fantastic to satiric to poignant.

Jane Ciabattari, NPR Books

 

2015-05-13T13:57:28-04:00

Jane Ciabattari, NPR Books  

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/1275/

Bursts of insight illuminate these carefully crafted tales; McFawn somehow wrenches the deepest humanity out of even the most unlikable characters.

Publisher's Weekly

2015-05-13T14:19:55-04:00

Publisher's Weekly

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/bursts-of-insight-illuminate-these-carefully-crafted-tales/

McFawn’s tales shine when characters, both resolute and misguided, brace for the flawed truths of their predicaments.

Leah Strauss, Booklist

2015-05-13T14:28:23-04:00

Leah Strauss, Booklist

http://www.monicamcfawn.com/testimonials/1280/

 In these eleven kaleidoscopic stories, Monica McFawn traces the combustive, hilarious, and profound effects that occur when people misread the minds of others. The characters—an array of artists, scientists, songwriters, nannies, horse trainers, and poets—often try to pin down another’s point of view, only to find that their own worldview is far from fixed.  A young boy reduces his nanny’s phone bill with a call, then convinces her he can solve her other problems. A poetry professor becomes entangled in the investigation of murdered student. In the final story, an aging lyricist reconnects with a renowned singer to write an album in the Appalachian Mountains, only to be interrupted by his drug-addicted son and a mythical story of recovery.  By turns exuberant and philosophical adroit, Bright Shards of Someplace Else reminds us of both the limits of empathy and its absolute necessity.

More reviews here.