A rave review from Fresh Air for Mary Coin

NPR Fresh Air gives Marisa Silver‘s new novel Mary Coin a rave review today. Critic Maureen Corrigan says, “Far from romanticizing the suffering of the Great Depression, Silver stares at it hard, square in the face, just as Lange must have done…” “Silver is an evocative, precise writer, and her story … takes readers deep into the callous realities of life during the Dirty ’30s….” “Silver tackles big questions about the morality of art and, in particular, the exploitation of subjects in photography. Indeed, Silver herself “exploits” Lange’s famous photo here for her own powerful ends. Sometimes artists have to be selfish in that way. To paraphrase one of the greatest and most selfish of them all, Pablo Picasso, artists are trying to create lies that tell the truth.”

Read a transcript of this excellent review, and hear it too, here.

Read an excerpt of Mary Coin here.

Pre-order a copy of Mary Coin here. It comes out on March 7.