People I Wanted To Be : Press reviews

‘These fantastical yet deeply human stories from this young American are not only intriguing but Portobello Books has given them a delightful cover — perfect for a gift, you see. Intriguing tales… fantastical yet deeply human.’

The Times

‘Gina Ochsner’s exquisite collection can be consumed in a sitting or two because, although geographically wide ranging, moving from the old Soviet Union, via Czechoslovakia to America’s west coast, her stories have a unity of subject and mood….Each is painted in the same subtle tones: death, grief, loss and a sense of the supernatural abound, and yet what is most marvellous is that almost every story achieves a positive transformation and ends on a note of hope. Highly recommended.’

Daily Mail

‘To such sparkling exponents of the short story form today as Ali Smith, Pauline Melville, Jhumpa Lahiri, Peter Ho Davies, and David Bezmozgis can be added Gina Ochsner. Ghost stories of a kind, in which a closely observed realism tips stealthily into the fantastic or macabre, these eleven tales trace minute trajectories of loss, disappointment and regeneration. Beautifully crafted.’

Guardian

‘Gina Ochsner’s powerful debut presents 11 stories, many of which have the pared-down quality of her fellow Oregonian Raymond Carver’s work.(…) Her distinctive prose style brands these stories of loss but holds them back from bleakness, allowing most characters to salvage a shred of hope.’

Financial Times

‘Ochsner shares her character’s dark realism, but counters it with delight in the music of language and its capacity to reflect the natural world.(…) Ochsner’s purposes in taking human heartache and reassigning it to imaginary people in far-off paces are inspirational.’

Daily Telegraph

‘Her intuitive and masterly handling of the genre is a force to be reckoned with.’

TLS

‘Over and over in this brightly eccentric collection, [Ochsner] dives gracefully off the deep end and heads for the realm of the unpredictable.’

New York Times

‘A lean, poetic style whose fatalism brings to mind Flannery O'Connor's....strange, poignant and deeply affecting stories’

Los Angeles Times