Blank Pages

Reviews / Votes

"Deceptively simple stories by a master of the form perfectly capture moments of reckoning and reflection, in life and in art." -- Ellen Atkins - Minneapolis Star Tribune "MacLaverty writes with such compassion that his stories never feel bleak; they feel humane.... The continuous encounters with such exquisite impressions immerse you in each narrative, leaving you vulnerable to its emotional punch." -- Claire Oshetsky - New York Times Book Review "Reading MacLaverty, we inhabit the characters' lives from the inside out, arriving at an exquisitely intimate sense of common humanity as we share the everyday mysteries they inhabit." -- John Burnside - Times Literary Supplement "[MacLaverty's] care and deliberation show.... He is a matchless observer of human details." -- John Self - Guardian "MacLaverty's Ireland isn't a cloying caricature of lush meadows and magic. Rather, it is a place of raw beauty, unforgiving weather, and inexplicable violence, sadness and joy, where laughter, prayer and often alcohol help drown out an unrelenting descant of despair." -- Brenda Cronin - Wall Street Journal "[In Blank Pages] we find moments of routine interrupted, examples of the fragility of peace and perfectly sculpted vignettes of drama that are no less powerful for their quietness.... MacLaverty's real skill lies in creating atmosphere, in presenting images that last in the mind.... These are stories that must be listened to carefully to catch their deafening boom." -- Zoe Apostolides - Financial Times "Bernard MacLaverty is a master of the [atmospheric short] story.... By that I mean I can't think of anyone who does it better.... By shedding a sympathetic light on difficult moments in people's lives, he enriches our experience of each other." -- Allan Massie - Scotsman "MacLaverty brings humor, sympathy, and an unshowy eloquence to the conventional short story.... A fine collection by a true craftsman, thematically rich and deeply humane." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review "The 12 stories that make up MacLaverty's [latest] collection emphasize his mastery of image, characterization, and dialogue. He remains one of the most graceful storytellers in modern literature." -- Library Journal, starred review "MacLaverty's tales come across as deceptively light at first, but they leave a lasting impression." -- Publishers Weekly "Bernard MacLaverty's stories read like gentle tales about people who care for each other-he is brilliant at familiarity, long love and the domestic round-but his real subject is bigotry, the wider hatreds and beliefs that keep our lives small and this theme keeps his work relevant for the ages. He is a master of the short-story form." -- Anne Enright, author of Actress "Bernard MacLaverty approaches his characters with sympathy and a sharpened sense of the inner life. The stories in Blank Pages approach aging, art, memory, and regret with luminous precision and grace. MacLaverty works with meticulous care, like a portrait painter." -- Colm Toibin, author of The Magician "These stories are filled with quiet, graceful beauty. They are the stuff of everything, both local and universal at the same time. MacLaverty is one of our great writers-he finds us at our moments of loss." -- Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon "Bernard MacLaverty locates the precise point where life bleeds into art, and art into life. Even in the briefest of his stories his themes emerge slowly, unforced, as if pondering themselves; like the best writers through the ages, he is confident and questioning, engaged and wise." -- Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light "Striking.... This fine collection reaffirms MacLaverty's place among the greatest short story writers of his generation." -- Alexander Larman - Observer