The End of the World as We Know It (26 page)

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Entertainment Weekly

“Clear, forceful. . . . An exquisite memoir that everyone should read.”

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Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A courageous and successful work.”

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People

“Anecdotes of captivating vitality. . . .
The End of the World as We Know It
is barbed and canny, with a sharp eye for the infliction of pain.”

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The New York Times

“Indelible. . . . A devastatingly shrewd no-nonsense description of mid-20th century Southern mores and manners that can rank with the work of Walker Percy or Peter Taylor.”

—Newsweek.com

“Magnificent. Hypnotically candid and beautifully written. . . . Singular.”

—Haven Kimmel, author of
A Girl Named Zippy

“A devastating debut. . . . Worthy of William Styron and Flannery O'Connor. . . . Goolrick is clearly a victim of his parents' brutal abuse, but he has broken out of the categories of ‘victim' and ‘survivor' to become a powerful truth-teller.”

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Kirkus Reviews
, starred

“Searing. . . . Heartbreakingly intimate. . . . Breathtaking honesty.”

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Richmond Times-Dispatch

“[A] blistering family memoir.”

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Robert Goolrick is a huge, shining talent.”

—Martin Clark, author of
Plain Heathen Mischief

“Brilliant. . . . A brief yet powerful record of long familial dys-function.”

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The Raleigh News & Observer

“Sharp, searing. . . . The events of
The End of the World as We Know It
jump off the page with unforgettable vitality. . . . It reminds readers why one man's unflinching truth still matters, still demands the printed page.”

—Bookslut.com

“Raw, impassioned, terrifying. . . . To say that it's the story of life in an alcoholic household in Virginia would be like calling
A Streetcar Named Desire
a play about a lonely woman. It catches the premise but not the development or the dramatic power.”

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Palm Beach Post

“A brave, haunting, riveting book.”

—Lee Smith, author of
On Agate Hill

“Beautifully written, the story itself is at once compelling and repellent.”

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The Southern Pines (NC) Pilot

“A masterful blend of comedy and tragedy [that] is disturbing perhaps in direct proportion to how beautifully it is written.”

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Richmond (VA) Style Weekly

“A haunting story.”

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The Emporia Gazette

“Witty, wise and revelatory.”

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Pawling (NY) News Chronicle

“With devastating honesty and razor-sharp wit, Goolrick looks back with love and anger at the parents who both created his world and destroyed it.”

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Virginia Living

“Difficult to put down. . . . Simple but vivid.”

—Popmatters.com

“A quick, careening read, urged on by the memoirist's inherent promise to unveil the secrets of his subject.”

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Rain Taxi

“A moving, unflinchingly rendered story of how the past can haunt a life.”

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Publishers Weekly