This is How pops up on another ‘best of 2009′ list. Anna Mundow, writing in the Boston Globe describes the novel as ‘fearlessly disturbing’:
Hyland’s pared-down descriptions of Patrick’s life - as it once was and as he now endures it - convey excruciating tension and pain. Yet the claustrophobic world that she creates has at its core a disfigured yet recognizable humanity.
You can read the rest of the list here