Some of Her Friends That Year
Reviews

Praise for Maxine Chernoff:
"It will be seen that Chernoff is a master of the one-liner and entirely fluent in recovery-speak. And yet, recovery may actually be possible, she suggests, through human contact and the use of the human imagination. These are what heal her characters…."
-American Book Review

"Maxine Chernoff is a quiet reader who packs a powerful punch."
-The Los Angeles Times

"A master of indirection and irony, poet and fiction writer Maxine Chernoff charts the inscrutable and the mundane in her latest book."
-The Oregonian

"Maxine Chernoff's characters question the world like amateur detectives in pursuit of connections and clues; the mystery they can't fathom is how they got to wherever they are now . . . . Life, Ms. Chernoff seems to be saying, delights in doing what we least expect. For those of us who have long suspected this, Bop is generous with its moments of recognition and pleasure."
- Francine Prose for The New York Times Book Review

"Chernoff writes in a sleek, controlled vernacular about love, death, divorce, motherhood, alienation, and friendship. . . . [she] knows what she wants to write about, and writes about it deftly."
-Chicago Magazine

"Tightly crafted, expertly ironic tales."
- Publishers Weekly

"[Chernoff's] quirky and clever voice, always haunted by sadness, is reminiscent of Grace Paley-astute timing completes each story flawlessly."
- Book Forum

"The best of these stories crackle with Chernoff's curiosity about her subjects, and carefully drawn details coalesce into vibrant portraits of people we've all seen but whose lives often remain shrouded in mystery."
- San Francisco Chronicle

"Chernoff-is a wise and witty observer of modern social life."
- The Mercury News

"Maxine Chernoff writes short stories with a polish and candor that most other aspiring writers can only hope for. An enchanting read; each of these coiling tales resists being put down until the very end."
- The Midwest Book

"Chernoff believably captures the disjointed way that people talk and the unforeseen paths that conversations often take-her mostly dramatic stories make full use of comedic turns."
- Hyde Park Review of Books

"The stories-resound with dry wit and go by so fast you want to devour them like snacks. There's no through line and few quirks or gimmicks only characters who cut to the quick."
- Frontlines (Chicago)