The dozen stories [in Burning Bright]...have led to justifiable comparisons with Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy. ... These are tales that put you in another place, another kind of life. Recommended * * Daily Mail * *
Rash tells great stories, raw and powerful, but he is above all, an instinctive writer. These narratives, whether told in his laconic first person, or in a detached third-person voice, are well served by his flawless use of language. Every word carries meaning and intent . . . Rash possesses a realist's vision that resounds with truth * * Irish Times * *
Rash's prose is at once strong and supple, masculine and poetic, and lit up by a wealth of precise physical detail. ... His power of conveying landscape is exemplary, and he has a sure understanding of the measure and constraints of the short-story form * * Sunday Times * *
An exciting collection of short stories . . . delivered with such a surety of hand and such a considered distillation of the human spirit as to warrant the comparisons to Faulkner and Carver * * Independent on Sunday * *
Technically absolutely beautiful - incredibly well-wrought...[Rash] is a real storyteller, a real craftsman. -- Nadine O'Regan * * Judge of the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award and books editor of the Sunday Business Post * *
Superb; the great American short story at its best * * The Times * *
Searing...A nicely varied feast from a master of the form. * * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * *
Rash's evocative rendering of the blighted landscape and the tough characters who inhabit it recalls both John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy. * * New Yorker on SERENA * *
Could sit comfortably on any bookshelf beside Cormac McCarthy or Charles Frazier * * Guardian on SERENA * *
What superb stories come from Ron Rash's pen, the kind that truly put all others in the shade. His stories buck the trend for moments in a life that go unexplained: Rash wants you to understand, urgently and fully, what has taken place -- Lesley McDowall * * Independent on Sunday * *
