The author of award-winning M. C. Higgins the Great … and other imaginative works has ventured again into new ways of exploring the human spirit—literally, in [the case of Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush]; one of the three principal characters is a ghost…. The story is minutely and vividly developed, with no jarring of continuity between scenes of present time and past. Each character takes shape both from current behavior and influential factors of his or her background. This interplay of past on present is one of the most skillful aspects of the book, another being the emotional portraiture of several distinctive, empathetic individuals unbared by crisis. The language is a blend of occasionally lilting black dialogue and the author's own peculiarly musical style. This will require thoughtful reading and will be well worth it.

Betsy Hearne, in her review of "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush," in Booklist (reprinted by...