"A quirky, unpredictable and darkly comic confrontation with mortality." –Man Booker Prize Jury
"... Marion Poschmann, a multi-award-winning poet and novelist in her native Germany, now appears in English fully formed, translated by Jen Calleja, and has all the air of uncovered greatness. The Pine Islands is a story that doesn't tie up loose ends but leaves themes scattered as needles on the forest floor, allowing the reader to spot their patterns. The best approach to this beguiling, unpredictable book is to follow Gilbert's advice on reciting poetry: 'to let it affect you, and simply accept it in all its striking, irrational beauty.'" –John Self, The Guardian
"A masterpiece." –Die Zeit
"Clever, poetic, funny." –Tagesspiegel
"Ravishingly funny." –Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"Readers who like quiet, meditative works will enjoy this strangely affecting buddy story." –Publishers Weekly
"Rather than tying up the loose ends, she leaves them beautifully fluttering in the wind, and you do not feel lost in that experience. The writing is poetic and it’s worth savouring." –Angela Caravan, Shrapnel
". . . Marion Poschmann’s The Pine Islands offers an encounter between Eastern and Western literary traditions that makes for a ghostly, unsettling trip." –Max Radwin, Words without Borders
"There’s something queasily hilarious about this self-centered pedant, who wouldn’t be out of place in the brainy comic novels of Don DeLillo or Nell Zink." –The Wall Street Journal
"The Pine Islands is a contemplative story that questions the possibility of scheduled contemplation or a pre-determined epiphany. " –Winnipeg Free Press
"The book suggests that when you’re searching for something in particular you will probably not find it, but that the journey will never be in vain. This eternal theme is handled with grace and humour, in a most unusual way. The Pine Islands is bursting with substance, possibility and delight." –Prism International
“A funny, strange and sad read ... Marion Poschmann's writing - translated into English by Jen Calleja - is deliciously vivid ... this is a refreshing book for the curious reader” —Herald