Lauren Acampora's fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, and Antioch Review. Raised in Connecticut, she now lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband, artist Thomas Doyle, and their daughter.
A Barnes and Noble Discover Pick An Amazon Book of the Month Praise
for THE WONDER GARDEN: "Like Wharton, Acampora seems to understand
fiction as a kind of elegant design. As characters reappear in one
story after another, Acampora reveals herself as a careful
architect...accomplishes great depth of characterization, in no
small part because Acampora doesn't shy from the
unpalatable...There is a barbed honesty to the stories that brushes
up against Acam-pora's lovely prose to interesting effect. Often a
single sentence twists sinuously, charged with positive and
negative electricity."--Alix Ohlin, New York Times Book Review
"Acampora is a brilliant anthropologist of the suburbs ... [The
Wonder Garden] is reminiscent of John Cheever in its anatomizing of
suburban ennui and of Ann Beattie in its bemused dissection of a
colorful cast of eccentrics. But Acampora's is entirely her own
book ... Acampora's ability to lay bare the heartaches of complex
individuals within an utterly unique imaginative world is worthy of
high praise."--Boston Globe "In 13 sharply drawn linked stories,
Acampora reveals the complexities beneath the polish and privilege
of a prosperous Connecticut town."--People "Acampora's stories show
that an Anna Karenina principle still applies: All happy families
are the same; the unhappy ones are miserable in their own special
way. Or to boil it down to modern terms: mo' money, mo' problems
... Add well-drawn characters, interesting plots, cultural zingers
and dead-on critiques of consumerism and Acampora delivers a
page-turner."--Dallas Morning News "A smashing debut, with range,
subtlety and bite. Reading Acampora, we're in Cheever country, with
hints of Flannery O'Connor."--Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com
"Well-plotted, incisive and beautifully written
fiction."--Bookreporter.com "Acampora's debut creates a portrait of
a fictional upscale New York suburb, Old Cranbury, through a series
of linked stories that are intelligent, unnerving, and very often
strange...In each story, Acampora examines the tensions, longings,
and mild lunacies underlying the "beady-eyed mommy culture" and
sociopolitical "forgetfulness" marking Old Cranbury. At the same
time, Acampora's picture of the town--rendered in crisp prose and
drawing on extensive architectural detail--is as irresistible as it
is disturbing."--Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review) "The
stories in Acampora's first collection are so vivid, tightly
plotted, and expertly woven that they make you look forward to
reading more by this accomplished author."--Library Journal
(starred review) "Spooky and fabulous... A cleareyed lens into the
strange, human wants of upper-class suburbia."--Kirkus (starred
review) "Acampora wields prose with the precision of a scalpel,
insightfully dissecting people's desperate emotions and most
cherished hopes...Acampora not only meticulously conveys the allure
of an outwardly paradisiacal suburban community, with its perfectly
restored Victorian homes and well-tended lawns; she also clearly
captures the inner turmoil of its residents, homing in on their
darkest impulses and beliefs. Some of the stories' starring
characters make cameos in others, adding considerable complexity to
the whole. Like Evan S. Connell in his iconic novels, Mrs. Bridge
(1958) and Mr. Bridge (1969), Acampora brilliantly captures the
heartaches and delusions of American suburbanites."--Booklist
(starred review) "A dark and brilliant collection of stories.
Lauren Acampora is a terrific writer."--Joseph O'Neil, author of
Netherland and The Dog "The world depicted in Lauren Acampora's
stories seems reassuringly familiar, until it becomes unaccountably
strange and unsettling. One moment we seem to be in Cheever's
Westchester, the next we plunge through the looking glass into
realms that may remind some readers of George Saunders or Robert
Coover or the David Lynch of Blue Velvet, though, inevitably, all
resemblances prove to be superficial. Acampora is an original and
The Wonder Garden is an outstanding debut."--Jay McInerney, author
of Bright Lights, Big City "The Wonder Garden is a beautiful book:
witty, intelligent, deeply compassionate and gorgeously crafted.
Lauren Acampora is uncannily skilled at chronicling the emotional
lives of her characters with the same razor-sharp precision as she
does the suburban landscape that surrounds them. I can't stop
thinking about these stories." -- Molly Antopol, author of The
UnAmericans "Like the famous opening scene in 'Blue Velvet, '
Lauren Acampora's The Wonder Garden pulls us under the surface of
that most carefully tended American garden, the prosperous suburb,
to lay bare its dark underbelly. The Wonder Garden is wondrous, and
its stories are addictive. I dreaded coming to the end."--Susan
Choi, author of My Education "Lauren Acampora's linked stories,
about one Connecticut town, vividly explore dark interiors as well
as polished facades. The Wonder Garden is an elegant construction
and a chronicle of the surprising ways in which suburban lives
intersect. Lauren Acampora is a writer of extraordinary
dexterity."--Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of Them "I loved
The Wonder Garden. Acampora's writing moves like a laser through
her characters' souls, finding the deepest, darkest truths and
delusions. Every story surprises. Every story is devastating. Like
Mad Men set in the present day, but better."--Heidi Pitlor, author
of The Birthdays
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