Clarence, MN: Mansfield University

The Library Journal
review by Christine Perkins

This gentle first novel explores what would happen if you could remember everything that ever happened to you: every triumph and tender moment, every snub and indignity, every torment and terror. Would the bad outweigh the good? How can we live without forgetting life's daily hurts and injustices? Clarence, MN, is a bucolic college town until a fire at the town's pharmaceutical factory "spills" deletrium (a fictional chemical) into the atmosphere. Suddenly, Clarence's unsuspecting citizens are overcome by a flood of powerful memories. The former theater critic for City Pages, Ursu is a writer who cares deeply about her characters, and her descriptions of professor Bennie Singer's haunting flashbacks of his wife's fatal car accident and his tender interactions with his daughter, Sophie, are very moving. Other players include Singer's mother, who must reconcile an unsatisfying marriage and open herself to the possibilities of new romance, while her crush, Calvin, is literally floored by vivid images of war. Lots of pop culture references to life in middle-America lend a comic touch.

	US Weekly "Best of the Week" "This whimsical, bittersweet debut suggests that the stories of our lives are what save us." The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers "a thought-provoking and timely tale, liberally seasoned with charm and good humor. (Winter 2002 Selection)" The Philadelphia Inqirer "No scalpel can touch the truths Ursu locates" USA Today "Reading their stories is better than eavesdropping on a patient's tale to his analyst." New Orleans Times-Picayune "Ursu does a wonderful job in this imaginative and charming novel." The Library Journal "Ursu is a writer who cares deeply about her characters" Bookreporter.com "this book leaves you chuckling, grinning, tearful, thoughtful, warmed, chilled and, not surprisingly, reminiscent... a brilliant first novel." TheBookHaven.net "an impressive first novel. Anne Ursu has a gift for telling tales. Hopefully, this talent will be utilized for many novels to come." MostlyFiction.com "...the success of the book is not only the stories that she finds to tell but also the way she writes about them." StoryCircle.org "Like many good writers, Ursu draws us into her setting - the fictional town of Clarence, Minnesota - by getting the details just right."
		CLARENCE, MINNESOTA The Library Journal review by Christine Perkins This gentle first novel explores what would happen if you could remember everything that ever happened to you: every triumph and tender moment, every snub and indignity, every torment and terror. Would the bad outweigh the good? How can we live without forgetting life's daily hurts and injustices? Clarence, MN, is a bucolic college town until a fire at the town's pharmaceutical factory "spills" deletrium (a fictional chemical) into the atmosphere. Suddenly, Clarence's unsuspecting citizens are overcome by a flood of powerful memories. The former theater critic for City Pages, Ursu is a writer who cares deeply about her characters, and her descriptions of professor Bennie Singer's haunting flashbacks of his wife's fatal car accident and his tender interactions with his daughter, Sophie, are very moving. Other players include Singer's mother, who must reconcile an unsatisfying marriage and open herself to the possibilities of new romance, while her crush, Calvin, is literally floored by vivid images of war. Lots of pop culture references to life in middle-America lend a comic touch.