Larry Duberstein

Duberstein's first novel, The Marriage Hearse, a New York Times New & Noteworthy selection, was called "one of the funniest, smartest, and most generous novels about marriage that I know" by Phyllis Rose.^[4] His second novel, Carnovsky’s Retreat, was hailed as "a virtuoso performance for Duberstein, who handles Oscar’s street-smart manner the way Heifitz handles a violin."^[5] Of Postcards From Pinsk it was said that "Mr. Duberstein has an eye and an ear for the truly comic, and he packs a lot of bittersweet humor and unfailing insight into a mere 244 pages."^[6] The short stories in Eccentric Circles ("one of the neglected treasures of the year") are "wryly affectionate studies that combine comic exaggeration with meticulous comprehension of character."^[7] The Handsome Sailor, described by F.X. Feeney as "fire stolen from heaven—a piece of divine mischief fit to please Melville himself,"^[8] was a New York Times Notable Book.^[9] The Twoweeks "is the work of a master wordsmith whose intimate knowledge of the human heart is rivaled only by his perspicacity."^[10] Duberstein's latest novel, Five Bullets (2014) is perhaps his most personal and powerful, drawing upon the story of a family member who suffered terrible losses in the Holocaust yet achieved great success later in the U.S. Five Bullets has been called "a daring, elegant, introspective masterpiece" by eminent critic Theodore Rosengarten and "a powerful story of humanity and inhumanity" about "a memorable and complex character" by Kirkus Reviews.^[11] Of The Hospice Singer (forthcoming in May 2022), NPR book critic Joan Baum has said, "Duberstein tells this story with wit, originality, and great heart."^[12]

• The Marriage Hearse (1987) ISBN 978-0932966766
• Carnovsky's Retreat (1988) ISBN 978-0932966834
• Postcards from Pinsk (1991) ISBN 978-1877946042
• The Alibi Breakfast (1995) ISBN 978-0759241596
• The Handsome Sailor (1998) ISBN 978-1579620073
• The Mt. Monadnock Blues (2003) ISBN 978-1579620936
• The Day the Bozarts Died (2006) ISBN 978-1579621346
• The Twoweeks (2011) ISBN 978-1579622244
• Five Bullets (2014) ISBN 978-0692255087
• The Hospice Singer (2022) ISBN 978-1-57869-085-5

• Nobody's Jaw (1979) ASIN: B0006DYJ62
• Eccentric Circles (1993) ISBN 978-1877946202