The Truth About Death and Other Stories
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Hellenga is a real reader’s
writer, winning committed fans with intelligent and emotionally grounded novels
ranging from The
Sixteen Pleasures to The Confessions of Frances Godwin; as
the LJ review
of Confessions says,
“he deserves to be more widely known.” This collection of short fiction ranges
widely, with the title novella summing up the mood: undertaker Simon embalms
his father, contemplating his own death; his mother says good-bye to her
husband in the basement cooler; and the dog, Maya, a sensitive greeter at the
funeral home, communicates some important truths to Simon’s wife. Suggesting
the light twisting of a dark subject, a plate of spaghetti cacio e pepe,
which Simon eats while dining with an undertaker in Rome, figures in the plot. —Library Journal
The Confessions of Frances Godwin
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"The beauty of this novel and, in fact, of all of Hellenga's work, lies in the scrupulous attention he pays to those different shapes that life takes. Like Frances, we find in their very concreteness a way of living with the unertainty that surrounds us." —Booklist
Snakewoman of Little Egypt Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Three reasons to love Hellenga: He's a fine storyteller; he gives us new eyes; he restores our sense of wonder. Attention must be paid." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Don't start reading this book if you've got a dinner party coming up in the next few days, or a committee meeting or a golf game. You'll be calling people up with fake excuses and feeling bad about yourself–at least that's what happened to me… A masterpiece." —Washington Post Book World
Washington Post's Best Novels of 2010. Kirkus Reviews' Top 25: 2010 Best Fiction
The Italian Lover Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Robert Hellenga, tucked away at Knox College in rural Illinois, is a writer you should know. His fifth novel, 'The Italian Lover,' is satisfying in unexpected ways, a delicious departure from the weighty meals served up this season by Philip Roth, Richard, Russo and Denis Johnson." —The Plain Dealer
"[Hellenga's] characters, though a touch melancholy, are sympathetic, quirky and believable. They have well-drawn histories and an appealing appetite for life, beauty and knowledge. And his most remarkable achievement might be the on hiding in plain sight: He's that too-rare male novelist who can create and sustain deeply reflective female charaters. —The Chicago Tribune
Philosophy Made Simple Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Let's add Robert Hellenga to the lists of American's most admired fiction writers. Because with Philosophy Made Simple he once again has produced a novel that adds immeasurably to the pleasures of reading contemporary fiction." —Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune
"Sweet and lovely.… A charmingly picaresque tale.… Rudy Harrington is a trusting, thoughtful man whose lovability is so artfully created that to get to know him is a treat.… Since this is a novel, it is not a surprise to learn where Hellenga stands on the ancient quarrel between philosophy and literature. He makes his case against Plato well, moving us with pathos and pleasure, startling us into wisdom." —Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, New York Times Book Review
"Like some of the best blues, Blues Lessons is a poignant story about longing for lost love, traveling the country to find it, and appreciating it once it reappears." —Acoustic Guitar
The Fall of a Sparrow
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"The Fall of a Sparrow conveys a sense of certainty and ultimate truth that only the finest writing can achieve. It is an extraordinary novel." —The Washington Post
"Hellenga brings a freshness and intelligence to every line and every incident, every motif and every page." —Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered
Los Angeles Times "Best Fiction of 1998." Publisher's Weekly "Best '98 Books."
The Sixteen Pleasures Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Elegantly moving… Everything about the narrator and the heroine of this novel is appealing right from the first paragraph… Like her, the book is modest, resourceful, and without malice–it is high-minded and fine. So after skipping ahead to slow your heart you go back to read each elegantly moving word." —The New Yorker
"As the story unfolds in surprising and wholly satisfying ways, the novel becomes a meditation on erotic love, on the bonds between parents and children, on the definition o 'home,' and, most importantly and insistently, on the shape of human lives. —Ploughshares
Amazon Barnes and Noble
Amazon Barnes and Noble
"The beauty of this novel and, in fact, of all of Hellenga's work, lies in the scrupulous attention he pays to those different shapes that life takes. Like Frances, we find in their very concreteness a way of living with the unertainty that surrounds us." —Booklist
As in Hellenga’s earlier work,
secondary characters have professions and interests that allow the author to
leaven the story with short, lucid passages about astronomy, physics, piano
tuning, the wholesale produce business, opera and long-haul trucking. Meals are
lovingly prepared and described so clearly that you can use a Hellenga novel as
a cookbook.
In many ways, The Confessions of
Frances Godwin both sums up and surpasses Hellenga’s body of work. This is a
story of maturity by maturity for maturity, written with subtlety, deep
learning, and wisdom. Even teenagers might find engrossing. I loved it. —Washington Post
Hellenga creates a teacher you will wish you had studied
with, and a character to remember.
—Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
With most of life behind her, Frances—who by most measures seems a
rather plain, everyday Jane doing everyday things in an everyday place—actually
has rather a lot to confess, which is quite wonderful and delicious. These
confessions are somewhat surprising but somehow not shocking; they paint a
picture of a woman of many layers. Hellenga has drawn in Frances a character
who accepts herself—all of herself: her past, her regrets, her failings, her
successes. In doing so, Frances becomes a woman the reader can’t help but
admire. She is a woman anyone would be lucky to know in real life: a person
rich in experience and emotion, full of stories and insight, at once flawed and
perfect in all her imperfections.
—Chicago Book Review
Snakewoman of Little Egypt Amazon Barnes and Noble"Three reasons to love Hellenga: He's a fine storyteller; he gives us new eyes; he restores our sense of wonder. Attention must be paid." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Don't start reading this book if you've got a dinner party coming up in the next few days, or a committee meeting or a golf game. You'll be calling people up with fake excuses and feeling bad about yourself–at least that's what happened to me… A masterpiece." —Washington Post Book World
Washington Post's Best Novels of 2010. Kirkus Reviews' Top 25: 2010 Best Fiction
The Italian Lover Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Robert Hellenga, tucked away at Knox College in rural Illinois, is a writer you should know. His fifth novel, 'The Italian Lover,' is satisfying in unexpected ways, a delicious departure from the weighty meals served up this season by Philip Roth, Richard, Russo and Denis Johnson." —The Plain Dealer
"[Hellenga's] characters, though a touch melancholy, are sympathetic, quirky and believable. They have well-drawn histories and an appealing appetite for life, beauty and knowledge. And his most remarkable achievement might be the on hiding in plain sight: He's that too-rare male novelist who can create and sustain deeply reflective female charaters. —The Chicago Tribune
Philosophy Made Simple Amazon Barnes and Noble"Let's add Robert Hellenga to the lists of American's most admired fiction writers. Because with Philosophy Made Simple he once again has produced a novel that adds immeasurably to the pleasures of reading contemporary fiction." —Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune
"Sweet and lovely.… A charmingly picaresque tale.… Rudy Harrington is a trusting, thoughtful man whose lovability is so artfully created that to get to know him is a treat.… Since this is a novel, it is not a surprise to learn where Hellenga stands on the ancient quarrel between philosophy and literature. He makes his case against Plato well, moving us with pathos and pleasure, startling us into wisdom." —Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, New York Times Book Review
Blues Lessons
"There is a sad beauty to this novel, a potent narrative about the lives people make out of broken expectations; it is a fable of the heart seeking resolution." —Chicago Tribune
"Like some of the best blues, Blues Lessons is a poignant story about longing for lost love, traveling the country to find it, and appreciating it once it reappears." —Acoustic Guitar
The Fall of a Sparrow
Amazon Barnes and Noble
"The Fall of a Sparrow conveys a sense of certainty and ultimate truth that only the finest writing can achieve. It is an extraordinary novel." —The Washington Post
"Hellenga brings a freshness and intelligence to every line and every incident, every motif and every page." —Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered
Los Angeles Times "Best Fiction of 1998." Publisher's Weekly "Best '98 Books."
The Sixteen Pleasures Amazon Barnes and Noble
"Elegantly moving… Everything about the narrator and the heroine of this novel is appealing right from the first paragraph… Like her, the book is modest, resourceful, and without malice–it is high-minded and fine. So after skipping ahead to slow your heart you go back to read each elegantly moving word." —The New Yorker
"As the story unfolds in surprising and wholly satisfying ways, the novel becomes a meditation on erotic love, on the bonds between parents and children, on the definition o 'home,' and, most importantly and insistently, on the shape of human lives. —Ploughshares