Tomorrow the Animals Release: Setting the Family Free

Jerry Holt on Setting the Family Free

Toby Devens on Setting the Family Free

Rafael Alvarez on Setting the Family Free

The Baltimore Review: “A riveting page-turner, grips the reader to the very end”

The Baltimore Review has published a review of Setting the Family Free, calling it an “engrossing read” that “raises interesting questions about dominance, trust, instinct and love.”

The reviewer (A Balanced Life author Patricia Schultheis) made a keen observation that is at the heart of the novel:

“Goodman reveals a disturbing truth about human relationships: none of us is the same person to two or more others. Just as each of us is unique, so each relationship between individuals is unique. In giving their impressions of Sammy, Goodman’s characters reveal those facets of themselves that responded to Sammy, but none answers the key question: What drove Sammy Johnson to collect wild animals? That answer Goodman wisely keeps to the one chapter told from Sammy’s point of view.”

What fascinates some readers annoys others, and there’s no getting around that. Schultheis found the few short animal chapters to be “awkward,” although another published review cited those precise sections, writing “he excels at making the animals in this novel believable and sometimes sympathetic.” Other readers have described the animal sections as “rare and wonderful” and “boring” and “fascinating.” This is just one small aspect of the book.

In the end, Baltimore Review  gave Setting the Family Free a riveting review, calling it a book that “creates a tension that grips the reader to the very end.”

Read the full review in Baltimore Review:

https://baltimorereview.org/index.php/blog/post/setting-the-family-free-by-eric-goodman-a-review-by-patricia-schultheis

Baltimore Review on Setting the Family Free

Lucrecia Guerrero on Setting the Family Free

Late Last Night Books: It Will Broaden Your Perspective on ... Family, Freedom, and Fear

Late Last Night Books, the popular book blog, published a rave review of Setting the Family Free.  Here are some snippets.

“Toward the end of Setting the Family Free by Eric D. Goodman, one of the main characters thinks about what has to be done to “end this bloody twenty hours, thereby closing the darkest ordeal of his life,” but he can’t bring himself to do it. The fact that he is so conflicted is indicative of the many opposing threads that Goodman weaves together to create suspense and compassion in this tale of the escape of dozens of exotic animals from a homemade zoo in Chillicothe, Ohio. It’s a compelling story told by a skillful, adventurous writer.”

The reviewer knows that perspective is something that interests me as a writer. “He also shows his penchant for unusual storytelling by including several chapters from the point of view of the animals who have escaped. The unexpected narrator isn’t new for Goodman—he told his novel Womb: A Novel in Utero from the point of view of an unborn fetus—and he excels at making the animals in this novel believable and sometimes sympathetic. Being immersed in the thoughts of a lion or a bear is fascinating.

“But people are the ones who make the novel most engaging, especially Sammy Johnson, the owner of the exotic-animal zoo.

Sally Whitney sums the book up as “a good story about some dangerous animals that got loose, the people who loved them, and the people who hunted them down. No doubt it will broaden your perspective on the meaning of family, freedom, and fear.

Read the full review at Late Last Night Books.

https://latelastnightbooks.com/2019/09/10/setting-the-family-free-a-guide-to-the-species/

Charles Rammelkamp on Setting the Family Free

Jacquelyn Mitchard on Setting the Family Free

Junot Díaz on Setting the Family Free

Watch the Book Trailer for Setting the Family Free

Produced by B. Harrison Smith, here is the official book trailer for Setting the Family Free. 

For a higher resolution version of the book trailer, visit the link: https://vimeo.com/361092094.


If the trailer makes you want to buy the book, you can do it now at www.EricDGoodman.com/Animals or on Amazon!

Loch Raven Review on Setting the Family Free: Fast-Paced, Satisfies on Many Levels

Loch Raven Review is the first literary journal to publish a review of my forthcoming novel, Setting the Family Free.

What did Loch Raven Review think about the novel?

“Told from a variety of perspectives and in a mix of narrative forms, Eric D. Goodman’s new novel is the story of one man’s obsession with exotic animals … and explores the complex relationship between men and animals, civilization and nature.

“Setting the Family Free is just as much about how the story is told as it is about conflict and resolution.

Loch Raven Review summarized the book as “a kaleidoscopic viewpoint that adds up to one seamless, gripping story that’s both fast-paced disaster thriller and philosophical meditation on the intrinsic value of all living things. This is a book that satisfies on many levels.”

They had a lot more to say about Setting the Family Free. Read the entire review in Loch Raven Review:

https://thelochravenreview.net/eric-d-goodmans-setting-the-family-free-reviewed-by-charles-rammelkamp/

Tom Glenn on Setting the Family Free: This Book Will Stay in My Mind for Years to Come

Tom Glenn is author of novels like Last of the Annamese, No Accounts, and The Trion Syndrome. Here is his reaction after reading Setting the Family Free.

“Setting the Family Free creates a genre all its own. It has elements of a crime novel, a romance, and a thriller. But at its heart, it is literary fiction telling the story of a deeply flawed but good man who seeks his own fulfillment through the love of animals. Awed by the power and majesty of exotic animals—lions, tigers, leopards, bears—Sammy Johnson collects them, lives with them, and loves them. His feelings for them, and theirs for him, clash with the norms of the society in which he lives, costs him his marriage, and threatens his way of life. His solution to the dilemma makes for a gripping read. This book will stay in my mind for years to come.”

Pre-order your copy of Setting the Family Free today at Amazon or directly from Apprentice House!

Toby Devens on Setting the Family Free: Wild, Wonderful, Well Written, and Highly Original

Toby Devens is author of Happy Any Day Now, Barefoot Beach, and My Favorite Mid-Life Crisis (Yet), among others. She’s an avid writer and an avid reader. Here is how she described Setting the Family Free.

“Wild, wonderful, well written, and highly original. An Ohio town is overrun by wild animals and it's a jungle out there in this page-turner novel.”

       - Toby Devens
         Author of Happy Any Day Now and Barefoot Beach

Welcome to the urban jungle! Pre-order your copy of Setting the Family Free today at Amazon or directly from Apprentice House!

The Ivy Hosts Book Launch for Setting the Family Free Sunday October 6

The Ivy Bookshop is hosting the official book launch of Setting the Family Free on Sunday, October 6 at 5 p.m. and we're asking you to join us!

The event is free and open to the public. Complimentary refreshments will be served. There will be a reading from the novel followed by a question and answer session. The Ivy will sell books and the author will inscribe and sign them.

Junot Díaz called Setting the Family Free "ferocious and tender and funny from beginning to end," Jacqueline Mitchard called it "a generous, boisterous, surprising read, like a tiger in your back yard," and Rafael Alvarez called it "a good read under the Big Top of a fine craftsman's imagination."

What will you call it?

If you already pre-ordered Setting the Family Free and you have it with you, feel free to bring it to the event for an inscription and signature. Extra copies will be on sale by The Ivy to share with your friends and fellow readers.

We look forward to seeing you at the book launch for Setting the Family Free. Find more details on The Ivy's website.

www.theivybookshop.com/upcomingevent/6182

Junot Díaz: Ferocious and Tender and Funny

Junot Díaz, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is a creative writing professor at MIT and editor of Boston Review. The Dominican-American author knows his fiction — how to write it and how to read it.

Here is what Junot Díaz had to say about Setting the Family Free.

“A supremely moving novel by turns ferocious and tender and funny from beginning to end. Goodman’s finest book.”

       —   Junot Díaz,

              author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

              winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Pre-order your copy of Setting the Family Free today at Amazon or directly from Apprentice House!