The Book of Life

"Stuart Nadler has written seven of the most gorgeous, poignant, intricately crafted, and compulsively readable stories I have read in a long time. His flawed protagonists tend to be forever on the brink of heartbreak, yet the unlikely effect of Nadler's fiction is that life is continually reaffirmed."

"Stuart Nadler is an artist of secrets. Line after line of clear, revealing prose turn out to be incendiary. These are stories that expand without warning. A striking, rousing collection of people waking up fast. Nothing in The Book of Life is without consequence."

"Stuart Nadler will end up being compared to people you've heard of. Bellow, I'm guessing; Nathan Englander, probably Malamud, I.B. Singer. Heavy-hitters. This is both apt and not. Nadler's great, and those guys are all great -- so it makes sense. Sort of. But Nadler (like each of the others) is great in his own way. He addresses tradition, but he captures the right-now as well as anyone I know of. He's heart-breaking, yet he's funny. He writes beautifully, but his prose is lean--fat-free, even. He's really worth reading, so please do."