| PRAISE for The Widower: |
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"...beautifully heartbreaking...Litzenburger carries her story along with memorably lyric prose, one that is good with character but often exquisite with landscape...tone, the people, and the place where they live combine to make The Widower a book that will live in its readers' imaginations."
— The Ann Arbor Observer, March 2007 |
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"Litzenburger's rhapsodic first novel...beautifully reminds us of the sheer randomness of life events and the fact that the quality of our existence is shaped largely by our response to things we cannot control."
— The Toledo Blade |
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"A road trip, an abandoned baby, and a gun lie at the heart of The Widower, Liesel Litzenburger's moody first novel about second chances...beautiful...[she] manages to draw her narrative together in a way that's fitting, even moving."
— The New York Times Book Review |
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"The book that everybody should run out and get...there's a mystery, there's a road story, there's a love story...it lives with you in a very real way--in an unforgettable way."
— Keith Taylor, NPR |
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"Rich with themes of redemption and renewal."
— Redbook |
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"Litzenburger's elegiac debut novel abounds with a searching lyricism, as she vividly limns the nature of despair and the transcendent power of desire."
— Booklist |
| "Litzenburger looks at grief with an artist's eye. Highly recommend."
— Library Journal |
| "Lives entwined with kinship, tragedy and great heroism as they become lifesavers, life-givers, one to the other...this is the kind of book you must give yourself over to...Joyce Carol Oates, but without the absolute adherence to the dark side of humanity."
— Traverse City Record Eagle |
| "The force of Raymond Carver, but softer and more forgiving. The result is a brilliant etude on love, loss and interconnectivity...an exceptional first novel."
— The Grand Rapids Press |
| "There is...beauty here, in the determination of these broken, isolated people to survive and, ultimately, to connect."
— Chicago Tribune |
| "Litzenburger weaves together the fabric of these various lives, threading the mosaic with measures of candor and humor that combine to provide insight."
— The Petoskey News Review |
| "The Widower well repays the time spent dipping into its characters' broken but healing hearts."
— 3 out of 4 stars, The Detroit Free Press |