'Richard Burgin's fourth book of short fiction solidifies his reputation as one of America's most distinctive storytellers...I can think of no one else of his generation who reports the contemporary war between the sexes with more devastating wit and accuracy.'
The Philadelphia Inquirer
'LIfe is a painful beauty, of course, and Richard Burgin is a master of showing us just how sad and happy we might be.'
'Burgin's steady and strong writing brings the story to a magnificent climax. . . . Never didactic and never failing to sustain a most suspenseful story, Burgin pressures these characters for all they're worth. Ghost Quartet is a compelling story that demands contemplation.'
Harvard Review
'A narrative of extraordinary power and poignancy.'
'The 11 tightly controlled stories in Richard Burgin’s third collection, Fear of Blue Skies, present characters of such variety that no generalizations about them can apply. Throughout this arresting volume, Burgin is sensitive to the infinite brands of human error . . . as well as to our rare redemptive moments of resilience and understanding.'
'Mr. Burgin has given expression to a chorus of alientated voices too haunting to be easily forgotten.'
The New York Times Book Review
'Finely balanced fictions...Masterly...Private Fame offers a thrill ride for anyone willing to explore the dark alleyways of the modern American psyche.'
'Burgin subtly covers the spectrum of contemporary situations. Man without Memory astutely probes the terror of the psyche.'
The Washington Post
'Burgin has his finger on the pulse of his times...this is an impressive group of stories.'
The Philadelphia Inquirer
'If his literary career ended today, Richard Burgin would certainly be ranked in the top tier of American short story writers...The Conference on Beautiful Moments offers some of his best writing...enjoy yet another strong collection by a master practioner of the short story.'
The Pedestal Magazine
'This is a work Chekhov could appreciate.'
The Review of Contemporary Fiction
'Burgin's original technique makes each story compelling.'
The Seattle Times
'Compared to the mainstream fiction that surrounds it on the bookshelves, The Identity Club is like a bullet casing lodged in a Hallmark display. You feel compelled to examine its dangerous beauty...The Identity Club also boasts a CD of 20 songs...A blend of jazz, pop, and classical [the enclosed CD] Don't Go There will surprise you with its sweeping melodies and sly lyrics.'
'Richard Burgin is the king of bad behavior... like Patricia Highsmith's or Paul Bowles', Burgin's tremendous gift is his ability to portray perversity and guilt with a disarmingly subtle touch... Gloria Vanderbilt provides some stunning images, complementing Burgin's horrific stories nicely'
Pleiades
'Burgin writes crisp and intelligent dialogue and description and he handles disconcerting situations with deadpan ease...his characters--alone, alienated, desolate and desperate--come alive on the page.'
Publishers Weekly
'Unfailingly believable, sometimes beautiful...we're left to marvel at Burgin's unflinching revelations.'
Boston Review
'Without showiness or fuss, Burgin writes gorgeous evocative prose...A writer at once elegant and disturbing, Burgin is among our finest artists of love at its most desperate, and his well-crafted stories have won four Pushcart Prizes.'
The Chicago Tribune
'This is a rich story, nastily honest and impressively balanced by a writer who has mastered his craft.'
The San Francisco Sunday Examiner a Chronicle Book Review
'Ghost Quartet is a pageturner--first because Burgin knows how to pace a plot and, second, because his protagonists' interior monologues are so interesting in their own right...I cannot think of a recent novel that provides a more nuanced, morally charged account of the struggles that cutting-edge composers have with their music as well as with their often complicated personal lives.'
The Philadelphia Inquirer
'Masterfully written...his wisest and deepest work so far.'
The St. Petersburg Times
"Fear of Blue Skies has a powerful, cumulative effect, like watching a movie with a slow beginning that you suddenly realize has mesmerized you.'
The Chicago Tribune
'One of the most stimulating practicioners of the form'
The Philadelphia Inquirer
'...his tales are never sedate nor prettified. While his protagonists' existences twist to extremes, they remain surprisingly and uncomfortably valid.'
Publishers Weekly
'Opening this book is like stepping into quicksand. Richard Burgin's ingenius tales are disconcerting from the word go.'
The Los Angeles Times
'Man without Memory is a classic waiting to happen.'
The St. Petersburg Times
'Richard Burgin, who edits the estimable quarterly Boulevard, is emerging as one of our most original story-writers.'
'Genius stood behind Borges' talent, as evidenced in every interview collected here. Any one interviewer can only hope to break the surface of Borges' labyrinthine mind, but in a series of interviews, with, as it happens here, so little duplication of questioning, much more depth and dimension can be illuminated.'
'The Man With Missing Parts indicates that the small press, a new generation and a dazzle of talent can still cause miracles...The book in our hands, in all its lightness and grace and imagination becomes not a didactic affirmation which the clumsy realism of the commercial novel must produce, but that genuine rarity a work of literature.'
'The honesty is a joy and the insights are copious...I suspect that for many years this will be one of the definitive books on Singer.'
Sacramento Bee
'For anyone interested in literature, the art of writing, religion or love, this book is an engrossing delight.'
People Magazine
'An engrossing and inspiring book.'
Los Angeles Times
'Reading these Conversations is like spending a wonderfully long afternoon with a truly great writer.'
Library Journal
'These question-and-answer conversations constitute a rich and interesting little book, not just because it sheds light on the craft that earned Singer a Nobel Prize, but in itself. Speaking with the independent-mindedness that characterizes his stories, Singer dilates on a wide variety of topics that include literature, philosophy, religion, sex and marriage, America, Jewishness, vegetarianism and heroic suicide.'
Publishers Weekly
'An entertaining writer may not be an entertaining talker, or even a particularly attractive person, but Borges is all three. We owe this discovery to the enterprising Mr. Burgin.'
The New Yorker
'An engrossing and inspiring book.'
Los Angeles Times
'A joy to read book!'
Publisher's Weekly
'It is to Burgin's credit that this book is so charming, so full of his warm admiration for a literary idol...Burgin holds his own with Borges: Some of the nicest interchages in the book are those in which the master learns from his student.'
Partisan Review
'Not only is this collection of coversations with Borges a wonderful introduction to his world, but it is also a Borgesian enterprise in itself, a labryinth of past dialogues that still echo in these pages.'
