The Bride of Catastrophe

Not since discovering Anne Tyler back in the sixties have I been so engaged in such a delightful cast of quirky and fascinating characters.I found myself calling friends to read passages from Schmidt's book aloud to them. What a wordsmith she is! I anxiously await her next novel. Don't miss this one if you appreciate great literature and love a good read at the same time.

Hello? They should be throwing book awards at this woman. Her novel is entertaining, but also as "deep" as the ponderous ones that advertise themselves as such. She is a light in the thick mediocrity of today's "literary" world. Some celebrated authors write great sentences or paragraphs. But Heidi J S writes a great BOOK.

I've never written a review before, but this novel is so entertaining and insightful I couldn't resist. Heidi Jon Schmidt writes exquisitely, and her characters are so lively and wacky (but not in the least superficial!), they could make you look at your own family and relationships in a new light.The author seems to have some kind of "x-ray vision"--she sees right to the heart of human desires and emotions (and motivations) in the smallest gestures and words--and finds the comic and poignant side to even the bleakest situation.Her writing just made me want it to never end, her descriptions of things ranging from lesbian and heterosexual love to the city of Hartford, CT (!!) are so funny and evocative...and it's all uproariously funny! I highly recommend this book for anyone truly interested in the human psyche!

I read this book in one gulp after I had read the review in the Washington Post. This is one mordant and very funny look at life and love. Heidi Jon Schmidt's capacity to be both biting and tender exhibits exactly the kind of eye and wit of a present day Austen. It is thrilling to read what Schmidt can do sentence to sentence--I haven't seen this kind of writing in a very long time. In this coming of age novel, Beatrice Wolfe and her family--and teachers--provide us with a treasure chest of wit, wisdom, sense and sensibility and great great fun. The voice that runs the novel is a voice you'd want whispering in your ear as you enter any room from now on, observant and wise and true.

I bought this because of the review in the Phoenix, and it turned out to be even better than I expected, one of those books you can't bear to finish. Every character is so vivid: Philippa,the dashing lesbian professor who seduces Beatrice and changes everything for her; Stetson, who, having escaped his drug addiction is radiant with the possibilities of his new life and terribly aware of its dangers too; Beatrice's crazy, desperate, and fascinating family; and Beatrice herself, whose pilgrim's progress through the sexual minefield of the 1970's is poignant, comic, and real. The romance between Beatrice and Stetson is riveting-- and the writing all through is full of intelligence and feeling and wit. I LOVED this book and will be thinking about it for a long time.