Visitation Street (Pochoda) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
A powerfully beautiful novel
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times


A stunner of a literary thriller. Grade A-
Entertainment Weekly


Utterly transporting.
People


(Starred review.) Exquisitely written.... Examines how residents of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood deal with grief, urban development, loss, and teenage angst.... Pochoda (The Art of Disappearing) couples a raw-edged, lyrical look at characters’ innermost fears with an evocative view of Red Hook, a traditionally working-class area of Brooklyn undergoing gentrification that still struggles with racism and the aftermath of drug violence.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.)  [R]eaders meet a full cast of utterly believable characters.... It's an opera set in one small community, and as...the neighborhood characters play their parts, large and small, Pochoda's riveting prose will keep readers enthralled until the final page. Verdict:The prose is so lyrical and detailed that readers will easily imagine themselves in Red Hook. A great read for those who enjoy urban mysteries and thrillers with a literary flair. —Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Blue-collar Red Hook, a section of Brooklyn’s waterfront in rough transition, becomes one big outdoor theater as temperatures rise in Pochoda’s beyond-category urban drama…. The mysteries of sexuality, guilt, race and class conflicts, artistic pursuits, and psychic abilities are all in play as Pochoda transforms Red Hook into a microcosm of human longing. With prose as cleansing and propelling as a sea breeze, and characters running like strong currents, Pochoda pulls us deeply into this transfixing tale of visitations both alarming and liberating.
Booklist


(Starred review.) A mystery about a missing girl and the ghosts she leaves behind. One summer evening, teenagers Val and June float on a rubber raft out into the bay off Brooklyn's Red Hook section. Only Val returns, her near-dead body washed upon the shore. But Val can't seem to tell anyone what happened to them or why June disappeared without a trace.... Who saw Val and June take the boat out? Can June possibly be alive?.... A terrific story in the vein of Dennis Lehane's fiction.
Kirkus Reviews