Huzzah/D’oh! The Descent of Man, a short story collection, was the runner-up for the 2009 Prairie Schooner Book Prize.
“Castaways,” a short story, is a Pushcart Prize nominee.
Some kind soul or souls landed Field Guide on the longlist for the The Believer Book Award. Thanks, Mom!
A press release for the NYFA Fellowship. Awfully nice to be in such fine company.
“Sex on a picnic table?” Read about my ignominious Literary Death Match defeat at The New Yorker’s Book Bench.
At The Elegant Variation, Jim Ruland adds Field Guide to his list of “Good Things That Come in Small Packages”: “With its mish-mash of styles…the illustrated novella-in-flash is unexpectedly astute. Perfect for road trips with people you hate.” Which is a good thing (I hope)?
The April issue of PDN profiles A Field Guide to the North American Family: “The Hungates and the Harrisons…in a pre-digital era might have populated the pages of novels and short stories by John Cheever, John Updike and Richard Yates.”
AFGNAF: “Just plain brilliant” – Flagpole.
Field Guide will be an “Editors Recommend” pick in the February issue of PRINT magazine.
“A Field Guide to the North American Family is a beautiful book,” writes Andrea Chmielewski of Bookslut. “Beautiful because of the gentle way the story of two suburban families unravels for the reader. Beautiful because each of the short entries that make up the novella is accompanied by a photograph, sometimes bizarre or haunting, but always a pleasure to behold. Beautiful because the book itself has all the elements that make the act of reading seem like an event.” Read the complete review here.
FILE Magazine features Field Guide: “Whether you read straight through or by meandering through its entries, by the end you have taken a heartbreaking journey through an chaotic and intense period in [...] two families’ lives. But it isn’t just the story, its structure, or prose that makes this book so ingenious. The book is a visual feast as well.” The FILE article also offers an interview and lush reproductions of pages from the book. Check it out here.
I recently went 10 rounds with Ed Champion of The Bat Segundo Show. Judge the audio here.
“There’s an appealing philosophical sweetness underlying the glancing surfaces,” writes Levi Asher of Literary Kicks. “If you buy this book as a Christmas present for everybody it reminds you of, you’ll be buying a lot of copies, and why shouldn’t you?” Read the complete review here.
“A remarkable collaboration…beautifully produced,” writes Rachel Fershleiser of Grand Street News. “Reveal[s] dark secrets and explore[s] the profound minutiae of modern life.” Read her article about the book’s genesis and the gallery show here.
“Intensely personal,” writes David Willems of Hotel St. George Press. “A sad and beautiful book. [Hallberg's] writing is luminous.” Read the complete review here.
“One of the smartest voices in the literary blogosphere,” writes Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation.
You may also enjoy listening to a September 10 interview on WFMU-FM’s “The Speakeasy” here.
And you can read a recent interview with Shane Mehling of E-Notes here.
