This Is a Voice from Your Past

“. . . Gerber has a voice that is hard to forget: forceful, unvarnished, at times even vehement, a lot like Philip Roth’s. Although Gerber may lack Roth’s outrageous sense of humor, his sheer inventiveness and his free-ranging engagement with politics, society and culture, she is capable of the same kind of emotional intensity and raw power. And, when it comes to depicting the nuances of personal relationships, she can be shrewder, subtler and more telling . . . Indeed, few modern writers can match Gerber’s portrayal of the strains, embarrassments and satisfactions of family life, the subject that has inspired her best work for the last four decades in novels such as An Antique Man and King of the World and in the many short stories she has written . . . In plain clear language incapable of disguise or pretension, Gerber discloses the source of the pain and, with a charity equal to her clarity, celebrates the satisfaction that comes with understanding.”
—The Los Angeles Times

“Seasoned novelist and memoirist Gerber provides another collection of deceptively quiet short stories. Her matter-of-fact tone lulls the initially unsuspecting reader into a state of complacency before shocking layers of hidden truths are peeled away one at a time . . . This seriously underrated and often-overlooked writer has the ability to speak volumes in the short-story format.”
—Booklist

“Veteran novelist, memoirist and short story author Gerber (Stop Here, My Friend) demonstrates her prowess in several of these compelling stories. The title tale is hands-down the most entertaining, thrusting readers into an established writer’s life as she receives a call out of the blue from a college friend, Ricky, the most gifted writer in her class who somehow lost that ‘window of opportunity’ to his success and is now transient and unstable . . . Overall, Gerber demonstrates power in her prose style, skill in her characterizations . . . Hers is a work of substance and intelligence.”
—Publishers Weekly