 It was also a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Award.Reviewers called it "a resonant first novel" ("Entertainment Weekly"), "a strong, complex story from a promising new literary voice" ("Kirkus Reviews"), "a debut impossible to put down until the dramatic and realistic conclusion" ("Library Journal", starred review), and "a marvelously written and well-paced, deeply affecting novel that ought to bring the writer several more awards" ("Houston Chronicle").