Reviews
Praise for The Answers "Lacey's sentences are long and clean and unstanchable . . . she sweeps you up in the formidable current of her thought, and then she drops you down the rabbit hole. She's the real thing, and in The Answers she takes full command of her powers . . . This is a novel of intellect and amplitude that deepens as it moves forward, until you feel prickling awe at how much mental territory unfolds . . . Lacey's special gift is for capturing the realistic flickering of individual consciousness." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times "A darkly funny, tartly feminist look at the tender state of our bodies and souls in the Information Age . . . [Lacey's] work manages to be both conceptual and human, socially aware and mordant--think DeLillo for millennials--[and] captures the absurdity of a culture that persists in thinking that enlightenment is a matter of the right purchase, hashtag, or Google search." --Megan O'Grady, Vogue "[ The Answers ] directs [its] energy into an unpredictable, layered plot that will likely take most readers by surprise . . . For Lacey's remarkable skill to be fully embraced, we may need a new genre to categorize her work under . . . Her sentences are like reading an iconic prose style before it's become iconic." --Joshua James Amberson, Los Angeles Review of Books "Catherine Lacey is one of the most intelligent and brittle and funny writers of her generation. In The Answers , she builds--out of the raw stuff of bewilderment and absence--a soaring, heartbreaking work that's just on the right side of being nearly too beautiful to bear." --Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies "Remarkable . . . Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Startling and stunning and compulsively strange, Lacey's sophomore novel is a haunting investigation into the nature of love . . . With otherworldly precision and subtle wit, Lacey creates a gently surreal dreamscape that's both intoxicating and profound. A singular novel; as unexpected as it is rich." -- Kirkus (starred review) "Lacey is particularly attuned to the emotional elasticity of her female characters, especially as they face problems that can feel physically taxing . . . [She] makes it easy to believe women, which been, as we all know, perhaps the hardest thing to do from a narrative standpoint at any particular time in history . . . Lacey manages to entertain us as she makes a point about women on the fringe." --Kaitlin Phillips, Bookforum "An adept novel . . . Lacey digs into the choppy turf beneath a woman's relationship to her body, her identity and her search for balance between independence and meaningful relationships . . . Lacey doesn't give us answers, but she sure gives us a wild story with a memorable protagonist." -- Shelf Awareness "Surreal, thought-provoking, and intriguingly untidy" -- Booklist, "Remarkable . . . Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within." -- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), Praise for The Answers "Catherine Lacey is one of the most intelligent and brittle and funny writers of her generation. In The Answers , she builds--out of the raw stuff of bewilderment and absence--a soaring, heartbreaking work that's just on the right side of being nearly too beautiful to bear." --Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies "Remarkable . . . Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Startling and stunning and compulsively strange, Lacey's sophomore novel is a haunting investigation into the nature of love . . . With otherworldly precision and subtle wit, Lacey creates a gently surreal dreamscape that's both intoxicating and profound. A singular novel; as unexpected as it is rich." -- Kirkus (starred review) "An adept novel . . . Lacey digs into the choppy turf beneath a woman's relationship to her body, her identity and her search for balance between independence and meaningful relationships . . . Lacey doesn't give us answers, but she sure gives us a wild story with a memorable protagonist." -- Shelf Awareness "Surreal, thought-provoking, and intriguingly untidy" -- Booklist, Praise for The Answers "Lacey''s sentences are long and clean and unstanchable . . . she sweeps you up in the formidable current of her thought, and then she drops you down the rabbit hole. She''s the real thing, and in The Answers she takes full command of her powers . . . This is a novel of intellect and amplitude that deepens as it moves forward, until you feel prickling awe at how much mental territory unfolds . . . Lacey''s special gift is for capturing the realistic flickering of individual consciousness." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times " The Answers is in part a sparkling satire of our era of big data . . . But the novel is also a poignant spiritual lament, deepening the themes of Ms. Lacey''s excellent debut, Nobody Is Ever Missing . . . [Lacey''s] searching, religious dimensions add to the fresh commentary on present-day godheads to make The Answers not just one of the most ingenious novels of 2017 but also one of the most moving." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "Catherine Lacey''s dating dystopia The Answers is this summer''s must-read novel . . . A darkly funny, tartly feminist look at the tender state of our bodies and souls in the Information Age . . . [Lacey''s] work manages to be both conceptual and human, socially aware and mordant--think DeLillo for millennials--[and it] captures the absurdity of a culture that persists in thinking that enlightenment is a matter of the right purchase, hashtag, or Google search." --Megan O''Grady, Vogue "Complex and haunting . . . Masterful . . . Lacey writes loneliness and solitude with a profound depth, injecting life into the anxious fluttering of those wondering, wandering individuals who just don''t know what to do with themselves and who can''t stop asking life''s most impenetrable questions." --Laura Adamcyzyk, The A.V. Club "[ The Answers ] directs [its] energy into an unpredictable, layered plot that will likely take most readers by surprise . . . For Lacey''s remarkable skill to be fully embraced, we may need a new genre to categorize her work under . . . Her sentences are like reading an iconic prose style before it''s become iconic." --Joshua James Amberson, Los Angeles Review of Books "Catherine Lacey is one of the most intelligent and brittle and funny writers of her generation. In The Answers , she builds--out of the raw stuff of bewilderment and absence--a soaring, heartbreaking work that''s just on the right side of being nearly too beautiful to bear." --Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies "Remarkable . . . Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Startling and stunning and compulsively strange, Lacey''s sophomore novel is a haunting investigation into the nature of love . . . With otherworldly precision and subtle wit, Lacey creates a gently surreal dreamscape that''s both intoxicating and profound. A singular novel; as unexpected as it is rich." -- Kirkus (starred review) "Lacey is particularly attuned to the emotional elasticity of her female characters, especially as they face problems that can feel physically taxing . . . [She] makes it easy to believe women, which been, as we all know, perhaps the hardest thing to do from a narrative standpoint at any particular time in history . . . Lacey manages to entertain us as she makes a point about women on the fringe." --Kaitlin Phillips, Bookforum "An adept novel . . . Lacey digs into the choppy turf beneath a woman''s relationship to her body, her identity and her search for balance between independence and meaningful relationships . . . Lacey doesn''t give us answers, but she sure gives us a wild story with a memorable protagonist." -- Shelf Awareness "Surreal, thought-provoking, and intriguingly untidy" -- Booklist, Praise for Nobody Is Ever Missing "Catherine Lacey's searching, emotionally resonant first novel . . . is composed mostly of long, languid sentences that push into the night like headlights. [This] slim novel impressed me, and held me to my chair. There's significant talent at work here." -Dwight Garner, The New York Times, Praise for The Answers "Catherine Lacey is one of the most intelligent and brittle and funny writers of her generation. In The Answers , she builds--out of the raw stuff of bewilderment and absence--a soaring, heartbreaking work that's just on the right side of being nearly too beautiful to bear." --Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies "Remarkable . . . Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Startling and stunning and compulsively strange, Lacey's sophomore novel is a haunting investigation into the nature of love . . . With otherworldly precision and subtle wit, Lacey creates a gently surreal dreamscape that's both intoxicating and profound. A singular novel; as unexpected as it is rich." -- Kirkus (starred review) "Lacey is particularly attuned to the emotional elasticity of her female characters, especially as they face problems that can feel physically taxing . . . [She] makes it easy to believe women, which been, as we all know, perhaps the hardest thing to do from a narrative standpoint at any particular time in history . . . Lacey manages to entertain us as she makes a point about women on the fringe." --Kaitlin Phillips, Bookforum "An adept novel . . . Lacey digs into the choppy turf beneath a woman's relationship to her body, her identity and her search for balance between independence and meaningful relationships . . . Lacey doesn't give us answers, but she sure gives us a wild story with a memorable protagonist." -- Shelf Awareness "Surreal, thought-provoking, and intriguingly untidy" -- Booklist
