“Little Bastards is wholly absorbing, terrifically exciting, thoughtful, informative, and clarifying. I would add that it is also immediate and propulsive. The characters are individual and dear, made so by Rudolph’s penetrating eye and fearless ear. It has been a pleasure to review this book, and it is a pleasure to think that others will—should, must, want to—read it.”
Women’s Review of Books, Wellesley Centers for Women
Read more
“A first-rate novel about the horrors of nationalism, as moving as it is instructive in its historical import.”
Kirkus Reviews
Read more
“Rudolph skillfully conveys the pain of a wounded young man whose present is constantly assaulted by his past. The possibility of an untroubled future fuels the narrative, and the reader is compelled to witness Jevrem’s journey at every point.”
Publishers Weekly
Read more
“That Rudolph is able to end this story on a credibly hopeful note is one last remarkable conjuring trick in a bravura display of fiction writing.”
Gordon Bowness, IN Magazine
Read more
“Rudolph captures the nightmarish siege with authority and assurance…[She] blends sharp character work with a seductive backstory.”
Jim Bartley, Quill and Quire and NOW Magazine
Read more
“The horrors of war through the eyes of a child and his parents, the ugliness of teens gone wild, and the disintegration of what is left of a family — even when well-written, it’s not easy.”
Orysia Tracz, Winnipeg Free Press
Read more
“What sets Katja Rudolph’s debut novel apart, however, is the commitment to complexity. Jevrem’s rage flourishes on the page, unchecked, and because the novel is rooted in his perspective, the only glimpse readers have of another perspective is via his interactions with secondary characters, often those who inhabit positions of judgement.”
Buried in Print
Read more
“Reading this book about the war in the former Yugoslavia was eye-opening. I knew as much as most of us do about that war, but this book reveals so much of the inner life of the people experiencing it. It isn’t bitter, isn’t didactic or full of historical fact or research — it is absolutely full of energy, of the voice of this thoughtful, traumatized boy Jevrem.”
The Indextrious Reader Blog
Read more