[Silences] is a book about the relationships between literature and circumstances as well as a commentary on the mysterious workings of the creative imagination….

Several of the essays in Silences were written in the early sixties, before the women's movement was really under way, and therefore seem a bit dated. What remains fresh and compelling is Tillie Olsen herself. Angry, sensitive, persistent, she has managed to create enduring literature under the most unpromising circumstances. Among women writers she is something of a saint, although she has done her best to avoid canonization. She makes it clear throughout this book that she is talking about a writer's problem, not just a woman's problem. (p. 105)

David Dillon, "Art and Daily Life in Conflict," in Southwest Review (© 1979 by Southern Methodist University Press), Winter, 1979, pp. 105-07.