Critical Praise

"Recognizing the contrast between old New England and contemporary New England, the clash between spirituality and materialism, Anastas skillfully weaves old with new in both language and culture. . . . The carefully constructed sentences carry the reader irretrievably forward, immersing him or her deeply in the outcome. . . . Anastas's gifts for description and characterization make this work a literary as well as a satirical masterpiece."

——The Desert News (Salt Lake City)

"Artful. . . . Through it all, one happy constant is the author's gimlet prose. In just his second novel, Anastas shows a rare ability to empathize with his main character, sympathize with a large but never unwieldy cast of minor ones, and nail the walk-ons in a sentence."

——San Francisco Chronicle

"Surprisingly seductive. . . . An extended, sometimes hilarious double take on American culture. . . . You can find yourself reading this book for pleasures more often associated with a think piece than a story. . . . Every word communicates a kind of fearful joy. . . . [The book is] graceful and slyly comic about religious matters."

——The New York Times Book Review

"Suburban send-ups aren't usually this funny, or this serious. And they certainly aren't usually as good as The Faithful Narrative of a Pastor's Disappearance."

——The Washington Post Book World