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“A swift and seductive novel. To experience such brutal beauty is why I read fiction.”
— Alice Sebold, New York Times bestselling author of The Lovely Bones
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“I read this novel in one sitting and was mesmerized, addicted, charmed, jealous. The Boy is gorgeous, fiercely intelligent, deeply honest, and incredibly entertaining.”
— Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author
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“Witty, compulsive, sensuous, and brutally honest about the price of motherhood.”
— Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of Room
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“A beautiful, brutally sensuous novel.”
— Kate Christensen, New York Times bestselling author of The Great Man
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“Lara Santoro’s The Boy unfolds with terse, impressionistic rapidity—like a spare, brutalist modern fairy tale…You can’t turn away.”
— Elle
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“It takes a special kind of writer to pursue the development of a character like Anna...Lara Santoro had to realize that her character was nearly as despicable as Humbert Humbert in Lolita, yet she forges ahead in this starkly brilliant book, letting the character be who she is without apology and without the usual redemption scenes...Ms. Santoro has crafted a book just as fascinating [as Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her], twice as stark, and simply unforgettable.”
— New York Journal of Books
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“Santoro’s writing is lyrical.”
— RT Book Reviews
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“Lara Santoro drills deep down, to the maelstrom of desire and despair that we cover up with the stories we tell ourselves. Unflinching and passionate, fierce and tender, The Boy is both a love story between parents and children, and a coming-of-age story for all women who are old enough to know better. It broke my heart.”
— Allegra Huston, author of Love Child
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“The Boy is beautifully written, beguiling in its fashion, hypnotic and swiftly paced. Lara Santoro tells a morally complicated and edgy story and doesn’t retreat, but stays true to her music. The word brave comes to mind, as does masterful.”
— Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter’s Bone
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“Emotionally intense.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“Santoro’s fast paced style aptly conveys Anna’s frenetic downward spiral.”
— Booklist
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“The central conflict, between maternal love and adult desire, is genuine. Even if Anna is damaged, her feelings are heartfelt and her crisis resonates.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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Lara Santoro is an amazing new voice. Mercy is a fabulous novel.
— Alice Sebold, author of The Almost Moon
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Anguished...monstrously beautiful....A gorgeously written novel.
— Cathleen Medwick, O Magazine
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Hilarious, harrowing....A passionate book with intense characters.
— Nick DiMartino, Shelf Awareness
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Stunningly ambitious debut novel....Admirably understated, Santoro keeps the story at a quick clip....The writing is exacting and effective.
— Washington City Paper
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Sublime....Santoro evokes the continent's everyday horrors and uncommon moments of grace in decidedly unsentimental prose, and her depiction of international journalists' lifestyles is similarly powerful....The characters and their complicated relationships remain stirring until the end.
— Publishers Weekly