Reviews for Bound:

Bound is a New York Times Notable Book for 2010

Bound is also on the Huffington Post Best Books list.

“The web of entaglements could be sketched out in a schematic diagram, yet the events roll along so effortlessly, propelled by plainspoken, naturalistic prose, that the symbolism never grows overbearing or obvious… Nelson, it seems to me, should be praised for her adroitness with language, her ability to sketch out a scene or a moment or point of view with a few carefully-chosen words. In the old days, there was a name for that: it was called “good writing”.”— Popmatters

“Antonya Nelson considers the ties that bind in her canny —and aptly named—new novel ‘Bound’… [Bound] seems, on the face of it, a simple, if improbable, story. But it is one that, in Nelson’s deft hands, soon becomes a small study of humankind…’Bound’ overall is so rich in characters, poetry and imagination… But it is at relationships — close, domestic relationships — that [Nelson] excels.” —Buffalo News

“Her sentences are the kind you want to savor for their rhythms and insights… This is the stuff of great fictional domestic life in the right hands, and Nelson’s definitely dead on…Nelson explores the things that bind us to one another and our pasts with astute observations and emotional honesty…[A] richly created and very rewarding story.”—WOSU.org

"Although the real-life BTK serial killer hovers in the background of Nelson’s latest novel, the author is far more preoccupied with the bonds of affection than she is with rope and duct tape. Oliver Desplaines, a handsome Wichita entrepreneur pushing seventy, is thinking about leaving his third wife, Catherine, for his much younger lover. Catherine, oblivious, dutifully visits her furious mother in a nursing home and watching over Oliver’s concerns. But then her wild best friend from high school, whom she hasn’t seen in decades, dies in a car crash, and the couple learn that Catehrine is the guardian of an adolescent daughter, who is missing. As this claim redirects Catherine’s life, Nelson illuminates the ugly questions that shadow our intimate relationships. Why do we torture those we love? Why do we court danger? And do we strain against the ties that bind us to break free, or to reassure ourselves they will hold?"—New Yorker

Newly released title roundup: Bound in the New York Times

Essay by Antonya Nelson for Salon.com

“One pleasure of reading Antonya Nelson is that she brings the careful language and control of literary fiction to uncontrolled, rough-and-tumble lives. Mixing the admittedly bourgeois undertaking of meticulously crafted prose with working class grit is risky — it can devolve into condescension or cartoonishness — but Nelson, like Raymond Carver, strikes a remarkable balance.” — Los Angeles Times

Bound was chosen as an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review

“In her extraordinary fourth novel, Antonya Nelson captures the clamor and swirl of life in this new century… she pulls the tension to a flawlessly calibrated conclusion.”—NPR.org, “Books We Like”

"Good ingredients, quirky recipe."—Newsday

Bound in Best of Kirkus 2010

“This deft tale of messy, modern family life crackles with truth and originality...Nelson has a gift for sharply etched characters and dazzling lyrical prose.”—People

“Gripping…An exploration of the delicate, painful connections among us… A veteran storyteller, Nelson nearly gets away with these devices, simultaneously dodging heavy-handedness, cliché, and preciosity… Nelson explores these connections and disconnects in understated, exact, and frequently witty prose.” —Boston Globe

“Antonya Nelson is a brilliant storyteller. With whip-smart prose, she describes the just-another- day-ness of our lives – the bad weather, the annoying neighbor who pretends to talk so they can look around your house, a dog's adoration of its owner and, most often, human fallibility – with precise candor and pathos. Bound, Nelson's 10th book of fiction and first novel in a decade, is magnificently dense, a solidity created by the depth she gives each of her memorably complex characters, a depth that in turn intensifies the emotional weight of her narrative…. Bound is one of those rare books that can be hilarious and snarky and heart-bruisingly moving all at once. Nelson's work feels brazenly honest because her characters' relationships are as richly textured and complex as our own. This familiarity makes Nelson one of the best writers of contemporary desire we have.”—Dallas Morning News

“Nelson is a remarkable writer…this is a wonderful collection of characters, deftly drawn and expertly unveiled.” —Slate

“Sorta like Franzen's Freedom, but with a serial killer, Bound tells the story of a middle-aged suburban couple living in Kansas during the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) killing spree.” Complex Magazine

”Antonya Nelson's Bound is a frank look into the human condition, and into the ties that bind--some literally, some not. Her characters, while not wholly sympathetic, are realistic. Nelson has used her remarkable talents to make them multi-layered, three-dimensional, true to life. The broad message seems to be that we all suffer from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder, and not every makes it out of that condition...for those who do, it can take years and still require a bit of additional shell-shock. But the deeper, more focused point Nelson seeks to make is that we need one another. The ties that bind may be painful. Obligations may sting. Requirements may hinder. But without those people and things to which we are bound, we can never get by. We can never be free.” Literary Gothamite

“Bound examines the powerful pull of family, the value of loyalty, and the surprisingly durable bonds of friendship. Told in nuanced prose, Bound has all the suspense of a mystery novel balanced by the soulful characterizations and piercing psychological insights of a literary work.”—Critical Mob

“A quiet character study of the bonds of family and friendship, at times fragile and at others strong as steel. Nelson plumbs the interior lives of a small but intriguing collection of characters, probing for some understanding of these often inexplicable ties…Though some writers who concentrate on short stories suffer in the longer form, Nelson adapts the skills she’s displayed in six collections to great effect here. Her characterizations are carefully etched, and her prose is precise and razor-sharp…Nelson has carved out some generous slices of a handful of lives and has served them up to us in all their messy complexity. There are no fireworks here, only the light shed by an accomplished writer’s unblinking attentiveness.”—bookreporter

“Given the setting and the time of Antonya Nelson's first novel in almost a decade - Wichita, Kan., in the 1970s and early 2000s - along with the title "Bound," one might think this is a book about the serial killer who terrorized this Midwestern city before his capture in 2005. One would be wrong. While the hunt for the killer who signed his letters to police "BTK" (for "bind, torture, kill") is a thread that runs throughout Nelson's novel, "Bound" is a much richer, much more human, much more intriguing and satisfying novel than any serial killer thriller. It is a relatively short novel - just under 230 pages. But Nelson, like the accomplished short story writer she is, has packed a great deal into that space. It is one of those books where you're torn between savoring the way Nelson tells her story - the carefully crafted prose, the sly humor of her observations about people and the facades they try to maintain - and racing through the pages to find out what happens to all these very real people.” —Tulsa World

“In her stories and novels, Antonya Nelson peers into the lives of her characters so closely that the intimacy borders on uncomfortable. And she does it with her typically spare, piercing writing, creating full characters with a just a few well-chosen words. We don't know much about what these people look like (not that it matters), but we know their joys and longings and dark secrets. "Bound," her exquisite latest novel, focuses on the connections people have throughout their lives: long-ago connections that resurface, family connections in the present, connections to times and places. Nelson has crafted overlapping lives and stories that don't fit neatly into a box, but somehow pack perfectly into the novel… Even Nelson's seemingly simple characters have depth and complexity.” —Wichita Eagle

There will be a feature on Bound in Metro Newspapers (the free dailies). It will run in Philadelphia, Boston, and NYC next week.

“Suspenseful and emotionally resonant.” —New York Daily News

Bound is included in the New York Times Style section’s 10 Things to Talk About This Weekend.

“Nelson makes good use of the various meanings of bound, exploring what it means to be tied to someone, compelled to act, obligated.”—Time Out. Read review.

“Antonya Nelson wields words with breathtaking precision in Bound…this is no heartwarming makeshift-family-bonding story; Nelson has something truer in mind. Turning tiny moments into revelations, she brilliantly exposes the fears and delusions that drive people to rationalize destructive choices…[a] wise exploration of the war between our worst impulses and our better selves.”—O Magazine

Donna Seaman includes Bound and Snakewoman of Little Egypt in her fall books preview in the Kansas City Star. Donna's article will be on the wire and should be picked up elsewhere

“Bound is almost effortless to read—which is remarkable when one considers the number of complex relationships at work and the cutting truth with which each character is depicted…That a novel can accomplish so much in such tight space is otherworldly, and it speaks to Antonya Nelson’s gift for writing great fiction.”—The Rumpus

"Lyrical realism, troubled marriages, and sadistic serial murder? I don't see who wouldn't want to read this." —Gawker. Read list.

Vulture Recommends Bound: Antonya Nelson's Top Five Quirky Mysteries With the Weirdo Lead Guy Who Is Always Damaged Goods.

“I have to agree with novelist Michael Chabon’s book jacket blurb, which envies the reader new to Nelson’s work. She’s a treat…In “Bound,” Nelson teaches us that we may not always have to choose between naughty or nice, polished or rough, that perhaps we’re most ourselves when we’re a little of both.”—Kansas City Star

“[Nelson] shines once again in her depiction of the many guises of marriage, and family ties both strengthening and coming undone.”—Bookpage

"A short story writer of exhilarating wit and empathy, Nelson returns to the novel after a decade with heightened authority. Tightly coiled, edgy, and funny...Nelson's sleekly powerful turbine of a novel riffs cannily on the many meanings of "bound.""—Booklist

“A small gem—more understated than Nelson’s recent stories, but equally sharp and deeply moving.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review