What they are saying about The Ginseng Hunter
"Jeff Talarigo has a remarkable talent: from some of the most horrific experiences a human being might face, he somehow crafts beautiful, haunting works of fiction. Talarigo [now] offers The Ginseng Hunter, a story of quiet humanity discovered in the midst of overwhelming inhumanity. ….While Talarigo is an expert at luring us out of our comfort zones to bear witness with him, he also gives us quiet heroes who do not give in, who do not give up. What we ultimately choose to do with both the devastation and the hope that we witness is up to us. - The Christian Science Monitor
"A harrowing tale of political oppression under the communist regime of Kim Jong-il…. Talarigo has a sharp eye for the intense ties that bind family, and how they are manipulated by oppressive regimes to strip people of their humanity.... There are no neat endings to this psychologically affecting portrait of desire and guilt. At a time when America’s gaze is directed toward the Middle East, The Ginseng Hunter is a scathing reminder of the perils that communism continues to wreak in pockets across the world. - Chicago Sun Times
"Set on China's fraught, ruggedly beautiful border with North Korea, Talarigo's tense, atmospheric second novel movingly dramatizes the human faces behind political oppression...Talarigo hypnotically weaves [the story] together against a backdrop of stunning scenery and of cruelty, creating a memorable, morally stringent tale. Highly recommended. - Publishers Weekly
"There is a haunting quality of loneliness to this brief tale. It begins as a delicate exploration of the psyche and the existence of one man, but morphs into an equally delicate exploration of political oppression. There is no sudden shift or shock–implicitly, Talarigo makes the case that the personal is political, and the political is personal. - Gather.com
"Talarigo's characterization of this antihero is both sensitive and understanding. His descriptive prose is such that readers virtually see the wrinkles of the ginseng root, hear the sparrows' high-pitched call, and taste the cold, running stream. By subtly relating the struggle of plant life on the forest floor to the human struggle at the border, Talarigo offers us a novel that is ultimately a study of survival under hostile conditions." - Library Journal (starred review)
“….a devastating portrait of the little-known lives of North Koreans. As incendiary as it is restrained, Talarigo's spare, evocative story provides a crucial voice to a tyrannized country.” – Booklist (starred review)
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Praise for Jeff Talarigo’s first novel The Pearl Diver“Hypnotic . . . Talarigo’s prose is as evocative as a Hokusai woodcut.” --Los Angeles Times
“At once exquisite and horrifying, a piece of delicacy forged out of pain and the struggle against numbness. . . . There is no denying the loveliness of this book. . . . In Miss Fuji, [Talarigo] has given us a genuine hero.” --Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Transformative. . . . Explores the question of what a person becomes after having been stripped of everything: name, family and function, privacy and freedom. Talarigo’s answer seems to be that we are saved not by what we are but by who we are, the part of us that exists within the flesh, that is capable of transcendence.” --San Francisco Chronicle
“Luminous. . . . Everything looks magical through [Talarigo’s] lens.” -- The Baltimore Sun
“[A] meditation on endurance and socially sanctioned cruelty. . . . A quiet triumph.” --Chicago Tribune
"Utterly believable. . . . In Talarigo's hands, the leprosarium and all the humiliations that go with it take on a mythical aspect, while remaining intimate and specific. . . . The Pearl Diver does not feel like a first novel. There is nothing tentative, nothing lacking from this moving story." --The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
"Spare . . . lyrical. . . . [Talarigo] has absorbed the delicate timbre of Japanese culture and literature . . . [and uses this] sensibility to paint bold, clean brush strokes that allow readers to envision the true picture. . . . A moving, simple, yet powerful story of how a soul can find a measure of dignity and freedom even in the most daunting circumstances. The life of [Miss Fuji] reverberates within the hearts of the fortunate people who get to discover her." --The Anniston Star
"An absolute, breathtaking gem. . . . Heartbreaking, haunting, but ultimately hopeful . . . a true secret treasure. . . . This one's the real thing." --Asian Week
"Talarigo has pulled a magnificent pearl of his own from the Inland Sea, a perfectly crafted, beautifully controlled and subtly multi-layered story about belonging and isolation that quickly transcends our baser fascination with the dreaded disease." --Fort Myers News-Press
"[A] terrific debut . . . [A] wise and merciful book. . . . This tautly written tale . . . simmers with quiet outrage not just at the horror of difference that prevails in a society built on conformity, but at the near-universal impulse to strip the sick and outcast of all that makes them human. . . . A moving poem to the tenacity of ordinary human dignity under unspeakable conditions." --LA Weekly
“One of the most honest, tender, and inventive books I've read in years. Talarigo never steps out of culture, out of voice, out of place; and yet this is a universal story, one of love, one of neglect, one of shame. . . . He can find redemption even in the narrowest corridors of the human spirit.” --Colum McCann, author of Zoli