Touched

Reviews of Touched:

Nanci White, Canadian Woman Studies: “This is a survival manual for young adults confronting the lethal cocktail of drugs, alcohol, sex, and unfamilies that contemporary North American society serves up to them.”

Marci McCauley, Room of One’s Own: “Jodi Lundgren’s debut novel Touched unfolds in poignant and insightful prose that clings to you long after you’ve turned the last page.”

Neil Besner, University of Toronto Quarterly: “Jodi Lundgren’s Touched is a powerfully written, painful and frightening novel about an undergraduate student’s breakdown and her mistreatment by the medical institution. But better than that, Lundgren …gradually reveal[s] the young woman’s abuse by her father, so that the caring family worried about her condition at the beginning is eventually revealed as its prime cause. …The writing is consistently charged and tense.”

Betsy Warland, author of The Bat Had Blue Eyes , Proper Definitions and What Holds us Here “Surprising and formally imaginative, Touched is a poignant, often witty, ‘detective novel’ of the soul. In short, a remarkable first novel.”

Stephanie Dickison, Canadian Writer’s Journal. “It is Lundgren’s adept way with description that grabs you by the shoulders and poof! brings you to life within the pages.”

Maria Stanborough, Herizons
“The … element that shapes Touched into such an interesting read is how Lundgren gets us inside Jade’s head. The exploration of the interior workings of a character is what fiction offers us, and with Touched, we step into the process of a mental breakdown. This is probably the strongest aspect of Lundgren’s novel.”

Rob Wipond, Monday Magazine “Touched steps bravely into volatile contemporary debates about ‘mental illness’, and provides inspiring glimpses into the role that inner exploration and creative communication can play in healing…..She also proves to be deft at writing both sex scenes and philosophical dialogues – often simultaneously.”

Dropped Threads 3 review:

The first section, “A Kind of Benediction,” draws its title from Margaret Atwood’s discussion in “Polonia” of Polonius’ advice to Laertes: she cautions the reader that young people may reject parental advice but will welcome the blessing that accompanies it. Contributors in this section offer both advice and benediction; among them, Jodi Lundgren shares what she has learned about self-esteem, risk-taking and security (“Pitch: A Dancer’s Journal”) –Roberta Birks, Canadian Literature