"Audacious in its quietness . . . Tune into its wavelength, though, and you hear a symphony of emotion. Through the half-understood exchanges and scenes her narrator recounts, Ms Maroo beautifully conveys the eddies of guilt and recrimination in a bereaved home, and the way feelings can be experienced as physical sensations."
–The Economist
"This excellent debut lives in the small moments . . . Maroo's calm, steady prose is so attuned to its subject matter it barely needs lyrical adornment . . . Few novelists write this simply and richly. With this gorgeous debut, Maroo blows most of the competition off the court."
–Claire Allfree, The Times (UK) "[
Western Lane] feels like the work of a writer who knows what they want to do, and who has the rare ability to do it . . . Maroo has a talent for making the space she needs for emotional complexity by way of physical description."
–Caleb Klaces, The Guardian (UK) "A rich correspondence between the rituals of grief and competition . . . Melancholy is only one of the moods of this short but brimming book. Squash is also a channel for Gopi's rage; for connections with other players and her longsuffering father; and for a joyous kind of freedom of expression . . .
Maroo's writing achieves its most graceful rhythms and prescient insights. You'll want to applaud."
–Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "Polished and disciplined . . . The beauty of Maroo's novel lies in [its] unfolding, the narrative shaped as much by what is on the page as by what's left unsaid . . . In this graceful novel, the game of squash becomes a way into Gopi's grief and her attempts to process it."
–Ivy Pochoda, The New York Times Book Review "A poignant illustration of the power of sports to help a family deal with grief–and each other–as they gradually make their way out of the darkness . . . [Maroo] is a marvelous and restrained storyteller."
–Shahina Piyarali, Shelf Awareness "Maroo's tale traverses the complexities of one family with an understated beauty, simultaneously graceful and teeming with fierceness, much like Gopi on the court. It is a powerful coming-of-age story, a tale of growing up as much as a tale of grief."
–Abeje Schnake, Booklist "Compact and powerful . . . This will invigorate readers."
–Publisher's Weekly "Subtle and elegant . . . Gopi's retrospective narration accumulates slow layers of heartbreak as the story proceeds, patiently building up an entire landscape of emotion through gestures, silences, and overheard murmurings in the dark. A debut novel of immense poise and promise."
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Starting off as an intimate tone poem, this story of a squash-obsessed teenager expands into something with
the amplitude, depth, and ringing power of a great symphony. In other words–WOW.
Western Lane is glorious. You'll want to read it over and over again."
–Aravind Adiga, author of Amnesty "Combining the precision and the efficiency of an athlete with the mysteries of childhood loss and memory,
Western Lane is a novel in which we linger on every breathing line and relish every close observation.
What an exceptionally talented writer Chetna Maroo is!"
–Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose
