“This account of his parents and himself by C. K. Williams is among the finest memoirs ever written--in the tiny class of those masterpieces by J. R. Ackerly and Violette Leduc. It transcends them by dealing equally with both parents: pained, passionate but objective, scrupulous in observation, and as beautifully written as his extraordinary poems. On reading it, one is transported with a kind of awe at being in the presence of an instant classic.” —Carolyn Kizer

“Though Misgivings is intensely personal, Williams has touched on something universal in the experience of the death of one's parents, something perhaps that only the grace and economy of a great poet could capture.” —Diane Johnson

“C. K. William's Misgivings is a model of decency and honesty. As in his poems, he humanizes here whomever his gaze falls upon, revealing in the process what's most human about us all and what's usually most inaccessible to us . . . It's a beautiful book.” —Russell Banks

“A poet's knowing in intuition and memory inform this book, which, page by page, turns into a gift of psychological and moral wisdom--a writer's journey toward awareness becomes a reader's responsive experience.” —Robert Coles

“It is a small luxury to watch a writer construct character as skillfully as Williams does . . . [he] is a trenchant observer and a dedicated examiner of mind and motive.” —Brian Phillips, The New Republic