Critical Praise

"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

"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)

"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