Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo

Reviews / Votes

Empathetically narrated... begins with the unexpected and ends with the enigmatic (no spoilers, but the last 10 pages are quietly astonishing * Sunday Telegraph * Fishman is in cool and nuanced control of his material * Herald * When Max finally learns the truth of his origins, his shock and confusion are so heart-rending to read * Financial Times * A rewarding read: sensitive, wise and truthful * Big Issue * Fishman fills the book with a cast of colourful minor characters... Many will find this story of an unhappy family trying to pull itself together moving, at times funny, a pleasure to read * Jewish Chronicle * With Fishman, we are in the hands of a genuine miniaturist, a cultivator of particulars, a writer who knows that familial conflict is in the realm of intense feeling packaged in tiny gestures * O, the Oprah Magazine * [Fishman's] second novel is a fresh, unpredictable departure from his first. Max may or may not do rodeo, but from now on expect Boris Fishman to do anything * San Francisco Chronicle * His language has the originality and imagination of someone who comes to English with unexpected thoughts and rhythms in his head, and he is, simply, a joy to read * New York Times Book Review * An eloquent and uncynical tale of how far people must travel to find out what they truly want and who they truly are * Chicago Tribune * Engaging, tender novel... [that] explores universal questions of relationships, belonging, inheritance and the mystery of just who we are * The Lady * ...earnestly heartfelt...Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo grows on you as it stretches beyond themes of adaptation to champion the importance of getting in touch with the great wilderness - both in nature and oneself * NPR.org * With graceful control and assurance, Fishman turns Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo into a layered story of identity and the challenges of weaving our many differences into compassionate bonds... a bond nuanced, compassionate novel * Shelf Awareness * Fishman is a writer who uses his words with deftness and precision * Los Angeles Review of Books * Touching... a sensitive and surprisingly adventurous exploration of one woman's wonder and suffering * Publishers Weekly * Fishman smartly observes that the assimilation novel and road-trip novel make good partners. Both, after all, are about finding freedom. A comic novel about parenting infused with emotional intelligence * Kirkus * Readers will be left thinking about belonging and family, and how varied the experience is for those born elsewhere * Booklist * This is an extraordinary book, worthy of joining the pantheon of American literature * Bookoxygen * Fishman's writing is impossible to adult, especially in its descriptive sections. He writes with precision about the emotional currents between fighting people; he writes sex well; he writes perfectly about the landscape of the American West * Elle Thinks * Dazzling... a formidable talent, a fabulous young writer with a steely wit and a razor-sharp eye... Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo is a brilliant and exhilarating read * Jewish Quarterly *