One D.O.A., One On The Way

Praise for One D.O.A., One On The Way

Recipient of the 2018 Arts and Letters Award in Literature

“A riveting read.” —O, the Oprah Magazine

“. . . One D.O.A., One on the Way has all the razored style and zigzag tone one expects, but also a new connection to a bigger world, in which all of our circumstances are as desperate and hilarious as her characters’ . . . Mary Robison’s work has always felt like a glorious amenity, but One D.O.A., One on the Way is a powerful necessity.” —The New York Times

“Robison could work for a food or drug packager: she squeezes dire warnings into tiny spaces . . . [One D.O.A., One on the Way] can be read in half an afternoon, leaving plenty of room for afterthoughts about Robison’s funny and heartbreaking conversations.” —The New Yorker

“With a laconic voice and a despairing sense of humor, film location scout Eve Broussard narrates award–winning Robison’s grim yet witty novella about the dissolution of a family and a city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina . . . Robison’s narrative is jumpy but effective, interspersed with and informed by startling statistics.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Robison is] a smart, brittle novelist… [capturing] in swift, acute sentences the comic hostilities of in–law relations, or the difficulties of caring for the chronically ill… With her lists, one–liners, and bullet points, she is a kind of bard of America’s most popular suburban affliction, attention deficit disorder.” —Times Literary Supplement

“Mary Robison is a woman of few words. But what powerful words they are . . . Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Award–winner Robison’s searing novella is rendered in edgy vignettes . . . Robison is a master at delivering dark scenarios with mordant wit. One D.O.A., One on the Way is an impressive addition to her ouvre, by turns horrifying, comic, shocking, and wise.” —The San Diego Union–Tribune

“Robison’s spare, hilarious dialogue and collection of fragmented images, moments and excerpts call on readers to fill in blanks and to organize what looks at first glance like chaos glimpsed from a moving car . . . a vivid, witty ride.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Robison eloquently reveals the dissolution of a family . . . The southern novel’s bread and butter are rich descriptions, thick as humidity and Spanish moss.” —Booklist