What They've Said About Brad's Work
"Automotive repair doubles as grief therapy in Barkley's quirky, emotionally resonant third novel , set in a small town in West Virginia...The icing on the cake is the author's touching portrayal of smalltown life in West Virginia"
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Publishers Weekly
"Readers who hear echoes of Huck Finn's adventures along the Mississippi shore towns will not be wrong. The result is a novel filled to the brim with fall-down funny scenes and vividly etched, unforgettable characters."
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The Washington Post
"This terrifically entertaining first novel by Barkley...resembles nothing so much as a PG-rated country cousin to Faulkner's wonderful picaresque The Reivers. ...Thoroughly captivating debut. First novels don't get much better than this."
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Kirkus Reviews
"Mr. Barkley makes writing appear effortless, primarily because his prose is so wonderfully understated--he imbues the simplest thought or comment with such significance."
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The Dallas Morning News
"Barkley is back and he has a winner.... we learn much about forgiveness and hope... Barkley steers this one straight into our hearts."
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Library Journal
"A refreshing, poetic, memorable story filled with precise small details that nudge people toward love..."
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Booklist
"Through alternating chapters related in soulful voices, readers hear from both sisters and experience two very different responses to familial disintegration... Barkley...offers a seamless, striking story that subtly depicts the girls’ incremental growth and the healing they find in new friendships."
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Kirkus Reviews
"His character struggle with failure, death, and relationships, his understated style stamping them with blue-collar authenticity...Barkley writes with a wry wit that transcends the sometimes gloomy material."
Entertainment Weekly
"Reluctant teen readers will be hookd by the strong, quirky story of love and family."
School Library Journal
Steve Almond
"Exactly the kind of short story writer the world needs. Barkley writes with grace and wit, determined to rescue his characters and us, his readers, as well. These stories make redemption feel not only hoped for, but essential."
Jill McCorkle
"This is a wonderful novel. Barkley is a gifted writer who knows how to blend the dark situation with comic delivery. Most important of all, he knows how to take broken hearts and put them back together."
Lee Smith
"Beguiling and utterly original, Alison's Automotive Repair Manual is a modern fable of love and community."
George Singleton
"These stories run through readers' veins like a special elixir.... Funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately honest, Barkley has widened the already-bright beam from his previous works."
John DuFresne
"You're about to meet some folks you won't soon forget. Money, Love is a breathtaking comic romp and a bittersweet tale of a family in collapse."
Richard Russo
"A hilarious novel by a very talented young writer."
Pete Fromm
"These are living, breathing people in these winning stories...Outstanding, honest, and moving."
Susan Perabo
"Beautifully crafted...rich, compelling characters."
Fred Chappell
"What a love of a book it is! Intensely American in tone and spirit. Sad, funny, and bittersweet, here is an important books that's fresh fun to read. I will be talking about it for years."