Some Reviews and Responses

'In A Long Island Story Gekoski turns a forensic eye on the subtlest nuances of family life and, in the process, introduces us to the fears, desires, and compromises of a generation. This is a deeply honest portrait of life, the big and the small of it, the sorrows and the joys'
REBECCA F. JOHN, COSTA - SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE HAUNTING OF HENRY TWIST

'Rick’s new novel is amongst many things a remarkable exploration of family and their complicated relationships. Rick’s skills as a novelist are many. We first saw these on display in his terrific debut, Darke, a troubling, mordant, misanthropic masterpiece that revealed Rick as a writer able to plumb the depths of human behaviour with electrifying effect.

On the face of it, ALIS could not be more different yet both books ask searching questions about what it means to be human, the sacrifices we inevitably have to make and the redemptive possibilities of love.

In certain respects ALIS is an old-fashioned novel, and certainly it is set in what seems like a very distant time. And the writers it brings to my mind are dead American ones from the last century that include Richard Yates, Wallace Stegner and John Williams. Yes it is that good. Yet the themes it deals with are timeless, eternal and relevant.

At Canongate we are enormously proud to publish Rick. And I love him as a friend as well as a writer. And we hope this beautiful, poignant book reaches the wide audience it deserves.

It all starts here. Buy the book, read it and spread the word!!'
JAMIE BYNG, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CANONGATE BOOKS
(from the launch party on July 4 at Daunt Books, Chelsea)

'What Gekoski brings … is subtlety and restraint, crafting an affectionate portrait of Jewish family life across generations. A quiet story, it’s economically told and freighted with resonant themes.'
MAIL ON SUNDAY

'A Long Island Story is an enjoyable read. Gekoski has a good feel for the place and time he grew up in and there’s enough suspense to keep you turning the pages'
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

'Impeccably acute about people'
The Times

Some Reviews and Responses

"Darke is a wonderfully written, ferociously single-minded character"
THE IRISH TIMES

'I was beguiled and charmed by the vivid personality being revealed. By that, and by the fact that I couldn't stop reading. Gekoski puts words together with a sure touch and deep craftsmanship'
PHILLIP PULLMAN

'A wondrous book with two fathers, Kingsley Amis and Dante'
SEBASTIAN BARRY

'Staggeringly accomplished. Heartbreakingly true. A shockingly monumental first novel'
JOHN NIVEN

'Stuffed with more wisdom, bile, wit and tenderness than many writers create in a lifetime. In James Darke we have a hero as troubled and eternal as King Lear . . . And in Rick Gekoski we have a late-flowering genius of a novelist who proves it's never too late to start a glittering career in fiction'
LONDON TIMES

'Rick Gekoski's impressive debut novel . . . Darke is both a tender and hard-hitting examination of grief and the slow, singular healing process . . . A brilliantly vivid creation . . . life-affirming and life-shattering'
THE HERALD

'Gekoski has created an extraordinarily memorable character... This is an original and bleakly funny portrait of grief'
ECONOMIST

'An immensely enjoyable elegy . . . done with precision and patience. I have never laughed as much at a book that made me weep so copiously'
STUART KELLY - THE SCOTSMAN

INTERVIEWS:

Radio New Zealand: Interview with Kim Hill - January 2017

Radio National Australia: Books Plus with Kate Evans - May, 2017