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Title: eccentricities of a finch
Review: Finch, the scarred main character, forty-ish, not in any way charming or attractive, tends the local graveyard with singular devotion. And why not, the dead are her best friends. Reynolds creates characters who are very real because they are very hurt and yet very strong. And she weaves a story that is very human. Finch may be a medium for the departed, but she is solidly US, someone readers can identify with. It is hard to read Reynolds and not be impressed with her poetic style, her terse bits of wisdom ("knots untangle themselves"--I copied that out of her book and taped it to my fridge for weeks) and her understanding and compassion for the human condition. Read her and watch, because this writer is going to be very well-known and is going to last as an important voice in American fiction.
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