Books
All That Is Left Is All That Matters
“The power in the memories [Slouka] so intensely evokes is heart stopping in its beauty, liberating in its acknowledgment of essential truths. . . . Put Slouka's work in the hands of fans of the Richards—Ford, Powers, and Russo—and watch what happens.” — Booklist, starred
“Mark Slouka is one of the best American writers alive today, and the title of his new story collection is perfect: this is essential stuff, and it will break your heart.” — Brian Hall, author of Fall of Frost
“Crisp, poignant. . . . These are subtle, meditative, well-crafted stories, death-backed but life-affirming.” — Kirkus
Nobody's Son
"...an exquisite combination of brutal clarity, tenderness and intelligence." - Heller McAlpin, Washington Post
“The scope and intensity of this exploratory, at times excruciating, memoir are incredible. Here are entire lives, recollected and resurrected with amazing clarity. This title is bound to be a classic of the genre.”—Library Journal, starred review
"A remarkable story remarkably told.... I have never before read anything except Nabokov's Speak, Memory that so relentlessly and shrewdly exhausted the kindness and cruelty of recollections shaping devices." — Geoffrey Wolff
Brewster
“Reading Brewster is like entering the very heart of a Bruce Springsteen song—all grace, all depth, all sinew. Slouka—one of the great unsung writers of our time—has written a magnificent novel that woke my tired heart.” — Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin
“A masterpiece of winter sorrow… Slouka’s real triumph here is capturing the amber of grief, the way love and time have crystallized these memories into something just as gorgeous as it is devastating.” — Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Intense and elegiac.... devastatingly agile." — New York Times Book Review
God's Fool
"If you can read [this] novel without being astonished and touched, then you'd better check to see if your heart is made of stone . . . simply brilliant. A book of the year." — The Dallas Morning News
"Slouka writes with the bare-bones ferocity of Jerzy Kosinski and the visual intensity of John Updike." — Boston Herald
“Exceptionally beautiful. . . . [A] story where the power of language and of reflection on the nature of connection is more essential, and compelling, than any retelling of historical events.” — The Washington Post Book World
The Visible World
“Rich with intelligence and poetic detail, The Visible World demonstrates why Mark Slouka is one of our finest contemporary novelists. He makes us think; he makes us feel; and because what he does is not just storytelling but art, we are elevated in the reading of his work.” — Elizabeth Berg
“Sentence for sentence, word for word, Mark Slouka is one of our very best writers: he calls to mind Berger, Sebald, Erdrich, Ondaatje.” — Colum McCann
“Lush, luminous fiction.” — O, the Oprah Magazine
Essays from the Nick of Time
“To read Mark Slouka's essays is to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether he is writing about where it is between man and nature, or how it is between men and other men, he brings to the page the wisdom of a gracious mind and the affection of a generous spirit.” — Lewis Lapham
“Every one of the essays in this collection is distinctive for its originality, its rigorous thinking and the clarity of its expression. . . . In 12 penetrating pieces, novelist and essayist Mark Slouka offers his eloquent and perspective take on aspects on contemporary American life.” — Shelf Awareness
Lost Lake
“Relentlessly observant, miraculously expressive, these are stories that see through the mirrored surface into a hidden yet strangely intimate world.” — The New York Times Book Review
“The range of emotion and experience in Lost Lake is panoramic, the sense of mystery as deep as the lake itself.” — The Commercial Appeal
“So rich and affecting that it incorporates all kinds of influences while remaining singular and quite unforgettable.” — Outside
War of the Worlds
"Among those who reject the principle of technology uber alles, Mark Slouka is now a clear leader. His War of the Worlds is among the most well-informed, well-written critiques of a culture hell-bent on locating its humanity in machines." — Neil Postman
"[Slouka] writes about these matters with enormous energy and ardor... a timely and provacative book." — Michiko Kakutani