Critical Praise

"...Ursu is a writer who cares deeply about her characters, and her descriptions of professor Bennie Singer's haunting flashbacks of his wife's fatal car accident and his tender interactions with his daughter, Sophie, are very moving."

——The Library Journal

"Living through the 280 pages of this book leaves you chuckling, grinning, tearful, thoughtful, warmed, chilled and, not surprisingly, reminiscent... Your good fortune also lies in the fact that you have had the opportunity to read a brilliant first novel."

——Bookreporter.com

"Slowly, charmingly, painfully, Spilling Clarence unfolds dimensions of how our pasts and presents intermingle, how our dreams and memories feed off one another. No scalpel can touch the truths Ursu locates..."

——The Philadelphia Enquierer

"...memories of lost love, a loveless marriage and a mentally ill mother give depth and structure to the story as the [characters] become lost in a tangle of family memories...Reading their stories is better than eavesdropping on a patient's tale to his analyst."

——USA Today