SusanOsborn.net

These original and illuminating essays cite and expound the dynamics of Bowen’s fiction’s originality and value. While some essays explore her fictional narratives’ Beckettian affinities, her narratives’ relation to the Gothic, and the multiple ways her work challenges the norms and boundaries of realism, others examines their representation of Sapphic relations, the unexpected ways her work estranges the conventionally conceived dialogic relation of reader and narrative, and the complex relation of the aesthetic and the ethical in her narratives. Others explore her fiction’s unexpected connections to a range of specific historical issues of major consequence during the early and mid-twentieth century including the interrelated questions of sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, nation, and war.

“Surviving the Wreck is a chilling novel about the silences in ‘normal’ families, the pain behind those silences, and the need to turn silence into speech.”
—Alicia Ostriker, author of No Heaven and The Volcano Sequence

“Susan Osborn’s Surviving the Wreck is, quite simply, a work of genius. Never before have the intricacies of [family] bonds been so honestly and so compellingly rendered. Osborn has accomplished something entirely new in the history of fiction.”
—Louise De Salvo, author of Vertigo and Conceived with Malice: Literature as Revenge

“This masterfully executed novel. . . deals with the harrowing consequences of growing up in a family where everyone turns to the wrong person for affection. . . a very engaging novel; highly recommended.”
—Library Journal

“Rarely have the intricate and troubling dynamics of the. . . family been conveyed as effectively as in Surviving the Wreck. This powerful story of a family wracked by alcoholism and financial scandal, denial and betrayal shows how skillful the human psyche can be in creating dramatic ways to divert awareness from their dangerous secrets.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“The aura of the dream sequences, the texture of the dialogue, the tactile longings conveyed by the fantasies, the shimmering quality of the memories, all are arresting and beautifully rendered.”
—Diana Hume George, The Women’s Review of Books

“[In] Osborn’s provocative text. . . [t]he downward trajectory of historic public events. . . parallels the hidden corruption of [the protagonist’s] household. It is, indeed, the strength of this novel that Osborn so successfully melds cultural memories of a generation to the personal recollections of her heroine.”
—San Diego Union-Tribune

“[In] Susan Osborn’s novel, she skillfully crafts descriptions and snippets of reminiscence to make [the daughter’s] ambivalence—her love-hate perspective on her father—become painfully clear. . . [The daughter’s] coming to terms with the past. . . is victorious and uplifting. . . Osborn produces a novel that should make its indelible mark in every reader’s mind.”
—The Harvard Independent

“What we do for love is the theme of this novel. . . Osborn’s writing is lucid, pure, and intimate.”
—Miriam Rinn, The Trenton Times

“Susan Osborn’s powerful novel [is] persuasive and unflinching…[,] strong and resonant.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The narrator of Surviving the Wreck potently portrays her unfulfilled need for her mother and the divided alliances of the family set against the political tragedy of the Kennedy assassination. Beautifully written descriptions pull the reader into the story, while a stair-step manipulation of gradually increasing tension rivets the reader’s attention. . . Despite the pain and tragedy, the story is one of survival and new beginnings.”
—Journal of Sex Education and Therapy

“. . . an excellent book about family entrapment. What impresses me most is the fair treatment of the people involved—the incredible insight into the family dynamics. I highly recommend it to others in the mental health profession, as well as to our clients/patients.”
—Ralph H. Earle, Ph. D., former president of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy

“With vivid imagery and a fine literary hand, Osborn depicts the slow grooming of [the daughter] as she moves from a naïve and joyful adoration of her father to the role of his furtive rescuer.”
—The Clinical Psychology of Women

“Osborn’s story, told with exceptional and appropriate restraint, is. . . [a] psychological exorcism, a chance at rebirth.”
—The Washington Times