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Outstanding
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Library Journal Beth E. Andersen
Religion, political martyrdom, and thwarted dreams do battle with maternal desperation and cautious hope. [15 Oct. 2004, p. 53]
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Outstanding
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Booklist Donna Seaman
As for Gordon, she outdoes herself. All of her books are exquisite and penetrating, but in this riveting novel, her compelling characters and their spiritual quandaries, her profound inquiries into beauty, compassion, and forgiveness, and the sheer radiance of her prose are surpassingly suspenseful, brilliant, and affecting. [1 Oct. 2004, p. 282]
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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review John Leonard
Gordon gives God the third degree, in a demanding and rewarding brainy-brawny novel that complicates our understanding of the world instead of coarsening it, that seasons the senses instead of stupefying.
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Outstanding
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Bookslut Barbara J. King
The beauty of Mary Gordon’s love and language suffuses Pearl. It’s a book to be read slowly and savored.
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Favorable
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Atlantic Monthly Rene Loth
Gordon has written an absorbing, affecting tale of family bonds sundered and reknit.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Donna Rifkind
Gordon's job here was to show the intimacy in Pearl's grand stunt and the grandness in the intimate mother-daughter reunion that follows. In both of those tasks, she has most artfully succeeded.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune Jane Ciabattari
"Pearl" is an extended meditation on martyrdom and justice, the shifting truths of human passion, the innate and contradictory impulses to do harm and to do good, the unconscious legacies parents hand on to children and the mysterious workings of the soul.
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Ron Charles
Gordon tells a gripping story.
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Mixed
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Houston Chronicle Lisa Jennifer Selzman
Though I was drawn to the heart of the story, I was repeatedly distracted and disappointed by the execution.
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Mixed
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Kirkus Reviews
Elegant prose, thought-provoking plot, mammoth themes--and sometimes slow-going. [15 Oct. 2004, p. 977]
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
The novel's conceit provides plenty of opportunities for philosophical musing, but... the relentless self-examination grows tedious.
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Mixed
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San Francisco Chronicle June Sawyers
Gordon is a fiercely poetic writer, and one who holds dearly to her beliefs. Sometimes, though, rhetoric can get in the way of telling a good story.
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Mixed
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Marian Botsford Fraser
Pearl has a riveting power, especially for women who recognize themselves in these fierce, perplexed mothers.
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Mixed
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The New Yorker
Gordon is an exquisite chronicler of guilt and regret, and in this flawed, potent novel many of her recurrent preoccupations are on display.
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Mixed
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USA Today Edward Nawotka
If you don't mind the sparse plot and relish philosophical discussion, this book is for you. If you're looking for a good yarn, look elsewhere.
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Mixed
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Chicago Sun-Times Natalie Danford
Whether readers find Pearl affecting or affected will depend largely on their capacity for conversations about and musings on family, religion, and politics.
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