[The Family] was an underrated and grossly neglected masterwork: one of the most moving and altogether impressive family novels of its decade. So it will be ironic if [The Country, a] short, often affecting, but less fully satisfying sequel—which returns to the Francoeurs of Providence, R.I., some 20 years later and repeats many of the same themes—wins the wide acclaim which The Family deserved…. [Readers] unfamiliar with The Family may find this new book by itself oddly sketchy, with the feeling of a short story plumped out to short-novel length. Still, through almost all of this, Plante's narration is starkly, yet gently, pared-to-the-bone; and though the subject of aged parents may be dealt with far more expansively in William Wharton's Dad, Plante's selective vision has its own nudging impact. Only an addendum, perhaps-but a fine-tuned and powerful one. (pp. 831-32)

"Fiction: 'The Country'," in Kirkus Reviews...