Starred Reviews for MFW in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal
Music for Wartime received glowing starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. From the former: “Though these stories alternate in time between WWII and the present day, they all are set, as described in the story “Exposition,” within “the borders of the human heart”—a terrain that their author maps uncommonly well.” From the latter: “Makkai is a musical writer with a strong voice, and this work is reminiscent of Elizabeth McCracken’s recent collection Thunderstruck, in tone if not in content. Themes of guilt, loss, survival, and memory infuse the entire book, which is rife with sentences that will stop you in your tracks with their strangeness and profundity.” Read the full reviews here and here.
