NPR.org - Nancy Pearl
"[W]hen you've finished and returned Heft to the library or lent it to a friend or archived it on your e-reader, you'll find yourself missing having the characters around. You'll wonder, while you're waiting for the light to change or kneading bread dough, what happened next. ...Moore [has] created characters that I'll probably never forget."
Ann Hood
"In Heft, Liz Moore creates a cast of vulnerable, lonely misfits that will break your heart and then make it soar. What a terrific novel!"
Colum McCann
"A suspenseful, restorative novel from one of our fine young voices."
Mary Gordon
"Heft is a work that radiantly combines compassion and a clear eyed vision. This is a novel of rare originality and sophistication."
Russell Banks
"This is the real deal, Liz Moore is the real deal — she's written a novel that will stick with you long after you've finished it."
People Magazine
"Arthur Opp is heartbreaking. A 58-year old former professor of literature, he weighs 550 lbs., hasn’t left his Brooklyn apartment in years and is acutely attuned to both the painful and analgesic dimensions of his self-imposed solitude. Kel Keller, a handsome and popular high school athlete whose mother drinks too much to take care of him or even herself, faces his own wrenching struggles. The pair, apparently connected only by a slender thread, at first seem unlikely as co-narrators and protagonists of this novel, but they both become genuine heroes as their separate journeys through loneliness finally intersect. Though Moore’s narrative is often deeply sad, it is never maudlin. She writes with compassion and emotional insight but resists sentimentality , briskly moving her plot forward, building suspense and empathy. Most impressive is her ability to thoroughly inhabit the minds of Arthur and Kel; these are robust, complex characters to champion, not pity. The single word of the title is obviously a reference to Arthur’s morbid obesity, but it also alludes to the weight of true feelings and the courage needed to confront them. Heft leads to hope."
Library Journal - Audio
The characters in Moore's second novel have both physical and emotional weight—heft to be lifted, balanced, and carried. Arthur, a professor-turned-obese urban hermit, and Kel, a high school student yearning for a life in professional baseball, have a known and unknown connection through Charlene, Kel's mother and Arthur's former student. Her decisions shift the balance in everyone's lives. Narrators Kirby Heyborne and Keith Szarabajka do an excellent job of portraying Arthur (late 50s with a gravely, lonely voice) and Kel (young and brash yet old before his time), leaving the reader gasping for a sequel. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy evocative, emotional, absorbing, and intriguing fiction. ["Moore's lovely novel…is about overcoming shame and loneliness and learning to connect. It is life-affirming but never sappy," read the review of the Norton hc, LJ 10/15/11.—Ed.]—J. Sara Paulk, Wythe-Grayson Regional Lib., Independence, VA
