Ninth Hour (McDermott) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Alice McDermott has taken the risk of writing about nuns, and the risk has been more than worth it.… Known and admired for her portrayal of Irish-American family life, she has now extended her range and deepened it, allowing for more darkness, more generous lashings of the spiritual.... McDermott has extended her range and deepened it, allowing for more darkness, more generous lashings of the spiritual.… Vivid and arresting.… Marvelously evocative.
Mary Gordon - New York Times Book Review


Beautifully observed, quietly absorbing.… This enveloping novel, too, is a tonic, if not a cure.
Heller McAlpin - NPR


[T]he precision of a master.… [A] great novel.
Wall Street Journal


Stunning.… McDermott has created a haunting and vivid portrait of an Irish Catholic clan in early 20th century America.
Associated Press


Brilliant.… [P]erhaps her finest work to date.
Michael Magras - Houston Chronicle


McDermott is a poet of corporeal description.… [I]t's the way she marries the spirit to the physical world that makes her work transcendent.… The Ninth Hour is a story with the simple grace of a votive candle in a dark church.
Sarah Begley - Time


(Starred review.) [A]n immense, brilliant novel about the limits of faith, the power of sacrifice, and the cost of forgiveness.… Scenes detailing her benevolent encounters…are paradoxically grotesque and irresistible.… McDermott exhibits a keen eye for character.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [S]eamlessly written…McDermott asks how much we owe others, how much we owe ourselves, and…how much we owe God.… In lucid, flowing prose, McDermott weaves her character’ stories to powerful effect.
Library Journal


(Starred review.) [E]nveloping, emotionally intricate, suspenseful.… McDermott is profoundly observant and mischievously witty.… This is one of literary master McDermott’s most exquisite works. —Donna Seaman
Booklist


(Starred review.) Everything that her readers, the National Book Award committee, and the Pulitzer Prize judges love about McDermott's stories of Irish-Catholic American life is back in her eighth novel.
Kirkus Reviews