2020 Foreword Indies Winner, Gold, Adult General Fiction?[Mayr] writes about the Canadian bush, in particular, with a profound awe for its beauty and a healthy respect for its dangers. He also sets up Things Worth Burying for a tragic outcome befitting a life and livelihood spent at the mercy of such an uncompromising landscape.? Joel Yanofsky, Montreal Review of Books
?Mayr captures well the beautiful solitude and melancholy of the bush that draws Joe? The secondary characters? appear well drawn and entrancing? The milieu is unswervingly authentic and will be readily familiar to anyone who?s ever spent time north of Sudbury. The ubiquity of lakes, forests, hunting rifles, heavy equipment, and alcohol combine into an ever-present sense of foreboding.?
Stephen Knight, Quill & Quire
"powerful new novel.... Mayr, who grew up in Northern Ontario, perfectly captures the tone of small town life, of men who work in the bush, where, as Adler says, ?Death ? was measured in minutes and small errors.? This is a world of friendly neighbours and vicious gossip, of mutual support and petty grudges, where the hotel bar is the only public place left to drink...? Robert J. Wiersema, The Toronto Star
Mayr?s three-dimensional characters capture working class life in a small town, a life many readers will remember, fondly or otherwise? [he] digs deep into the dysfunctional family in which Joe grew up and at the same time creates a window revealing the beauty of the rugged northern Ontario bush.? Gordon Arnold, Winnipeg Free Press
Working-class story of hope and Struggle? [Matt Mayr] writes sympathetically about his characters and wants us, the readers, to be sympathetic with their flaws and the daily challenges of small town life. His writing is clear, engaging, with generous and accurate details about the mechanics of working the bush. Those details ground his story in credibility and draw us into wanting to know what will happen as his plot thickens." Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal
Things Worth Burying is one of 11 "best new reads in fiction" Spring 2020 - Globe and Mail
"exceptional sophomore novel ... A gritty, yet heart-warming read, ... Recommended, and added to the 2020 longlist for Best Fiction for 'The Very Best!' Book Awards." The Miramichi Reader.
?a tense narrative, which is coherent, insightful and told from a working-class perspective. Like Steinbeck?s salt-of-the-earth migrant farmworkers, Mayr?s characters are real, rough and shaped by tough times. ?Mayr demonstrates a high level of literary craft. It takes the reader to core meanings of community, family and overcoming generational failure in a way that is contemporary, impactful and enduring.? Ian Thomas Shaw, The Ottawa Review of Books.
