["Sweetsir"] is a stirring novel about a woman who, in self-defense, murders her husband…. In arresting and sensitive detail Yglesias tells Sally's story, from her working-class childhood and her first marriage at 16, all the way through the conclusion of her trial. Yglesias explores Sally's and Sweets's marriage, which begins with passion and camaraderie—emotional, philosophical and sexual—and disintegrates in turbulence and violence. Every character, every line rings true. This is an altogether stunning novel….

"Fiction: 'Sweetsir'," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the March 6, 1981, issue of Publishers Weekly by permission, published by R. R. Bowker Company, a Xerox company; copyright © 1981 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 219, No. 10, March 6, 1981, p. 88.