"Oates's novel adroitly touches on race, loyalty, misogyny, and class inequality while also telling a moving story with a winning narrator. This book should please her fans and win her new ones." - Publishers Weekly
"Oates explores the long echoes of violence born of sexism and racism in one young woman's life in this deft psychological thriller." - Kirkus Reviews
"A beautiful and frightening novel, even with its gaps and liberties taken, it leaves readers with a sorrow and a cautious hope for Violet's survival." - Bookreporter.com
"This is a gripping coming-of-age story, at turns horrifying, heartbreaking, poignant and buoying. Now in her late 70s, she is at the height of her powers, and America has never needed her piercing observations more than it does now." - Toronto Star
"Oates explores the long echoes of violence born of sexism and racism in one young woman's life in this deft psychological thriller." - Kirkus Reviews
"A beautiful and frightening novel, even with its gaps and liberties taken, it leaves readers with a sorrow and a cautious hope for Violet's survival." - Bookreporter.com
"This is a gripping coming-of-age story, at turns horrifying, heartbreaking, poignant and buoying. Now in her late 70s, she is at the height of her powers, and America has never needed her piercing observations more than it does now." - Toronto Star