THE ARCHIVISTS
Press & Reviews
“Beautiful, precise and at times bitingly funny. While she does not spare her characters from suffering, her stories often open toward real, complex hope. In a world filled with loss, this is a collection that offers affirmation and solace.”
—Gwen E. Kirby, New York Times Book Review
In Kalotay’s luminous collection (after the novel Blue Hours), characters seek out sources of hope…. There’s real power in these stories, and it comes from Kalotay’s perceptive writing and ability to wring narrative power from the smart use of understatement. This writer is at the top of her game.”
—Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)
“Transcendent and triumphant, the short stories collected in the The Archivists reveal human beings at both their lowest and highest moments; they seek connections, even knowing that love might hurt them the most.”
—Foreword Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)
“Filled with stories of small truths and big lies, Kalotay’s stories in The Archivists shine. …Read the stories at your leisure, either in one sitting, or over a longer period as the mood strikes. You will be sure to find something to be awed by.”
—Indira Ganesan, The Key Reporter
“Exquisite… The themes into which Kalotay sensitively and intimately delves, including self-identity, trauma and escape from danger and oppression, will resonate with Jewish readers of contemporary fiction.”
—Robert Nagler Miller, Hadassah Magazine
“These beautifully crafted pieces end with a spark of hope. …Kalotay can be a master of subtlety and slow surprise. … stunning.”
—Fran Hawthorne, New York Journal of Books
“Kalotay’s fresh eye for the outside world is paired with a sympathy for the inner world of her protagonists. … In her longer, more complex story structures — for she is very much a narrative engineer — Kalotay limns the protagonist’s perceived problem as it grows from mote to beam, only to swivel near the end to a revelatory angle of view or fact, exposed weakness or lie, that transforms her understanding and ours.”
—Kai Maristed, The Arts Fuse
“Kalotay is one of our great writers, and these stories are small miracles. More than once I was brought to tears. Reading them is like magically entering a set of photographs, and feeling as the characters feel. Or no—mirrors, because we recognize ourselves. The Archivists, with its empathy and precision, is what reading is about.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less is Lost
"The Archivists centers on the fragility of relationships and life. It is remarkable in its breath and depth, covering a wide range of characters, premises, and social and cultural issues without ever seeming performative or didactic. This is a compelling collection of short stories with elegant prose, vivid and visceral details, complex characterization, excellent tension, and suspenseful arcs."
—Ethel Rohan, award-winning author of In the Event of Contact and The Weight of Him
“The Archivists coheres around both loss and its flipside, survival—and the willful acts of remembering and forgetting that stir those forces into our lives. These stories are revelatory, unsettling, and yet somehow deeply familiar. As I began each one, I had the feeling of sinking into something rich and real, a world that became more urgent than the one I was sitting in. That urgency always led me somewhere vital—and what more can we ask of great fiction?”
—Rebecca Makkai, author of I Have Some Questions for You
"This is a wonderful book from a remarkably versatile writer—one never knows if a given story in it will turn out to be historical fiction, social realism, psychological horror, or something else entirely, and the adroit, unpredictable shifts from one genre to another are one of the greatest pleasures of this collection."
—Dexter Palmer, author of Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen and Version Control
