Cherry (Walker) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
You won't hear Nico Walker on a book tour anytime soon because he’s serving two more years in prison for bank robbery. But don’t wait to pick up his lacerating new novel about the horrors of war and addiction. Cherry is a miracle of literary serendipity, a triumph born of gore and suffering that reads as if it’s been scratched out with a dirty needle across the tender skin of a man’s forearm.
Ron Charles - Washington Post


The rare work of literary fiction by a young American that carries with it nothing of the scent of an MFA program.… The voice Walker has fashioned has a lot in common with the one Denis Johnson conjured for his masterpiece Jesus’ Son.… A novel of searing beauty.
Vulture


One of the summer’s most exciting literary breakthroughs, Cherry is a profane, raw, and harrowingly timely account of the effects of war and the perils of addiction.
Entertainment Weekly


Some readers may find the innumerable descriptions of… [addiction] suitably transgressive. For everyone else, …the novel [may] feel like it’s willing to describe the catastrophe of its narrator’s life, but not truly examine it.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) [A] sad love story and a raw tale of a young man's downfall owing to war and its aftermath.… A raging, agonized scream of a novel and a tremendously powerful debut. —Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA
Library Journal


(Starred review) Unsparingly raw and utterly gripping. This is an astonishingly good novel, written by someone who clearly has a gift for storytelling. Walker’s characters, even minor players and walk-ons, are beautifully drawn. His dialogue rings achingly true.… A masterpiece.
Booklist


(Starred review) [U]nsettling debut [of] a young man raised in the middle-class comforts of America encounters war, love, and drug addiction.… A bleak tale told bluntly with an abundance of profanity but also of insight into two kinds of living hell.
Kirkus Reviews