The New York Times Book Review - Dani Shapiro
The literature of war is by its very nature political. If a writer's sentences are personal—what else, really, can they be?—and a writer has trained his lens on a bloody battleground, in reading him we will come to know where he stands, where his passions lie. When it comes to fiction, this passion can often result in rhetoric-spouting characters whose sole purpose is to service the author's ideas. But in The Illuminations…Andrew O'Hagan has created a story that is both a howl against the war in Afghanistan and the societies that have blindly abetted it, and a multilayered, deeply felt tale of family, loss, memory, art, loyalty, secrecy and forgiveness.
From the Publisher
"It's remarkable how much human territory O'Hagan explores and illuminates with a restrained style that also helps drive the novel along at a good clip." ---Kirkus Starred Review
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"It's remarkable how much human territory O'Hagan explores and illuminates with a restrained style that also helps drive the novel along at a good clip." —Kirkus Starred Review
JUNE 2016 - AudioFile
The best things in life are not things, says a spokesperson of the minimalist movement whose handbook shows how to get rid of the stuff that keeps you from pursuing your dreams. Joshua Becker is an earnest speaker who articulates every syllable and tries to make every point clear, but his determination sounds altruistic and appealing. It’s a performance and message that will prompt people to take some steps. The simplicity he advocates is not about deprivation; it’s about recognizing that too many possessions can corrupt our spiritual journey, our quest to have a full life. Referencing the teachings of Jesus, he says that simplicity’s rewards are not in what we discard but in what we gain—the awakened life we’ll have when we shed the clutter in our living space that bogs us down. T.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
