Valerie Martin Summary

Broyard is an American critic and essayist. In the following review, he favorably assesses Set in Motion, noting Martin's focus on male-female relationships. Helene, the narrator of Set in Moti... Read more

In the following essay, Martin describes her views on writing and the creative process. Unlike babies, not all stories come from the same place, and not all people who create stories go about it in th... Read more

Morris is an American editor and critic who frequently writes about John Gardner. In the following excerpt, he comments on Martin's focus on relationships and death in The Consolation of Nature... Read more

In the following unfavorable review, Kakutani faults Mary Reilly as merely a rewrite of Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). Written in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case... Read more

Showalter is an American educator, editor, and critic who frequently writes on feminist issues and concerns. In the following mixed review, she discusses Martin's focus on gender differences an... Read more

Merkin is an American novelist, critic, short story writer, and editor. In the following excerpt, she offers praise for Set in Motion, relating the novel's thematic focus on love and emotional ... Read more

In the following essay. Roberts examines Mary Reilly as a psychological novel relating the process of individuation as well as the effects of child abuse on individual development. While works based o... Read more

Houston is a novelist and educator. In the following mixed review, he discusses the themes, plot, and subplots of The Great Divorce. In this, her first novel since her successful Mary Reilly, Valerie ... Read more

Garner is an American critic, nonfiction writer, and educator. In the following excerpt, he offers a mixed assessment of The Great Divorce. [Valerie Martin's The Great Divorce] has the kind of ... Read more

An American critic, editor, and educator, Fischer is both a friend and former teacher of Martin. In the following positive review, he discusses characterization and Martin's use of language in ... Read more

Du Plessix Gray is an American novelist, journalist, critic, and nonfiction writer. In the following review, she praises Alexandra's evocation of place, but faults Martin's characterizat... Read more

Banks is an American novelist, editor, critic, and educator. In the following review, she favorably assesses A Recent Martyr. This is a striking book, one with as much depth as the reader dares to plu... Read more

Johnson is an American novelist, educator, critic, nonfiction writer, cartoonist, short story writer, and scriptwriter. In the following mixed review, he provides a thematic analysis of the short stor... Read more