A Replacement Life: A Novel - Rilegato

“Bold, ambitious and wickedly smart...A REPLACEMENT LIFE is full of descriptive treasures...The only problem with this novel is that its covers are too close together. I wanted more of Slava, his bumpy love life, his venal grandfather.” (Patricia T. O'Conner, New York Times Book Review)

“[An] ingenious debut...the novel is often very funny, but its most rewarding moments come as Slava, listening to the war stories of...elderly strangers, finds himself drawing closer to the grandmother whose secrets once seemed lost to him.” (The New Yorker)

“Fishman, like his protagonist, is a born storyteller with a tremendous gift for language on all brow levels, making for a captivating and rare first novel that is tender, learned, funny and deeply soulful - frequently all at the same time.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Powerful yet tender...real and vibrant...Fishman never loses the reader’s trust. No line in this book rings false, no character is unheard, no event seems like a plot device.” (Newsweek)

Sly and subversive...smart and sardonic...a touching story about a tenacious way of life disappearing amid the prosperity of America.” (Wall Street Journal)

“Fishman’s firm yet light authorial hand, his gift for character and plot development, and his searing use of the English language belie his youth and his novice-novelist status. His witty dialogue and wry, believable descriptions leaven the dark, dense bread of the tale.” (Chicago Tribune)

“In the way the he presents these [truths] to us with feeling, humor and eyes wide open, novelist Fishman doesn’t miss a beat.” (NPR/All Things Considered)

“Mordantly funny and moving... Justice is eventually served in A REPLACEMENT LIFE along with plenty of black comedy, but the book is less about doing right or wrong than about where absolutes, moral or otherwise, do not apply ... impressive.” (New York Times)

“Tova Reich and Shalom Auslander have delivered witty, nervy books on the subject. Add to their ranks Boris Fishman...Fishman humanizes the participants so well. Contemporary novelists have a bad habit of making immigrants appear monolithically earthy and good-natured, but Fishman knows better...deft and funny.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

“A memorable debut by a wonderfully gifted young writer...Boris Fishman has written a beautifully nuanced, tender, and often very funny novel about conscience and familial loyalty that will linger long in the memory.” (Joyce Carol Oates)