SOURCE: A review of Words That Must Somehow Be Said, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 29, 1985, p. 10.

In the following review of Words That Somehow Must Be Said, Hinerfeld, a critic and writer, praises Boyle's writing, but cites the story "Farewell to New York" as a piece in which she falls short.

It is not possible to write a line without telling, something of oneself, and in the essay from the very choice of subject speaks.

The person revealed by these essays is clear-thinking direct, sometimes tart, concerned both with fine distinctions and larger meanings. The point of view is principled, liberal, vigorous: Wrongs can be righted through action let us take action now.

A corollary/example: Kay Boyle has no patience with Elizabeth Bowen, 'sensitive and distinguished' nor with the central, recurring type of Bowen's fictions, a "pallid and introverted figure…." The tragedy of such a...