CRITICISM

Franklin, Ruth. “Desperate Characters.” New Republic 229, nos. 15-16 (13-20 October 2003): 50.

Franklin evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the stories in Indelible Acts.

Malin, Irving. Review of Indelible Acts, by A. L. Kennedy. Review of Contemporary Fiction 23, no. 3 (fall 2003): 138.

Malin lauds Kennedy's prose in Indelible Acts, claiming that the collection's stories “wonderfully capture the motivation, the tangled mechanics of love.”

Max, D. T. “Original Bliss.” New York Times Book Review (29 June 2003): 6.

Max argues that the overly “redemptive” tone of the stories in Indelible Acts “gives the volume a generic feel.”

Sacks, David. “Just Don't Mention the Nose.” New York Times Book Review (27 February 2000): 18.

Sacks comments that, though So I Am Glad lacks a strong antagonist, the novel is redeemed by Kennedy's “bold vision and masterly prose.”

Tew, Philip. “The Fiction of A. L. Kennedy: The Baffled, the Void and the (In)visible.” In Contemporary British Fiction, edited by Richard J. Lane, Rod Mengham, and Philip Tew, pp. 120-39. Cambridge, England: Polity Press, 2003.

Tew analyzes the search for truth in Kennedy's fiction, noting that Kennedy's characters often experience waves of emotional confusion that they silently and gradually work out without affecting the central plot of the narrative.

Wilson, Charles. “Losing Her Religion.” Washington Post Book World 29, no. 11 (14-20 March 1999): 6.

Wilson commends Kennedy's ability to make unlikable and unattractive characters seem sympathetic in Original Bliss.

Additional coverage of Kennedy's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Contemporary Authors, Vols. 168, 213; Contemporary Authors Autobiographical Essay, Vol. 213; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 108; Contemporary Dramatists, Ed. 5; Contemporary Novelists, Ed. 7; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 271; Literature Resource Center; and Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Ed. 2.