“Heart, You Bully, You Punk describes the mysterious, unpredictable, even mutinous ways people’s hearts mess with their lives . . . Packed with detail . . . Heart, You Bully, You Punk is a lively, thoughtful pleasure.”
“Attraction is a slippery concept . . . but [Cohen] is a good author, not just filling her characters with feelings, love among them, but lavishing care on everything from the food . . . to the minute details of rooms. . . . The single window that the science and math departments share says as much about Cohen’s fine eye as it does about the dismal architecture of school buildings.”
“Esker is the kind of broken soul you root for, and Cohen’s wistful novel evokes the intense vulnerability of love and the shattering pain of loss.”
“Insightful, charming, quirky, beautifully written . . . It’s a testament to Cohen’s skill that the novel—despite the stubborn and seemingly self-defeating will of the protagonists—delivers a dessert course in emotional truth that will leave the reader longing for more. Cohen is a writer to watch.”
“Lovingly crafted . . . Small gestures carry great weight, and images and details reverberate throughout, as tension builds, not organically from situations, but from Cohen’s descriptive layering.”
“Rigorous and accomplished.”
“Beguilingly cheerful and alive to the nuances of pain . . . Heart, You Bully, You Punk has enormous emotional scope and frequent astonishing insights.”