[2][3][4] NPR called the book "brave, triumphant and beautiful — it reads like a fever dream, and it feels like a miracle.

[14] In 2021, McClanahan's 2017 novel The Sarah Book was adapted into a one-man show by Berliner Ensemble artistic director Oliver Reese,[15] who then directed the production at London's The Coronet Theatre in 2022.

for The Huffington Post, Declan Tan wrote, "it doesn't have any of the staid and academically 'meta' tropes that often go with it; you can tell McClanahan feels something when he writes and when he lives.

"[20] Steve Donoghue, writing for The Washington Post, called Crapalachia "the genuine article: intelligent, atmospheric, raucously funny and utterly wrenching.

"[21] In the New York Daily News, Michael Abolafia reviewed Hill William positively, saying that it "invites us to look into the heart of easily forgotten, off-the-beaten-path landscapes and the strangeness that permeates them, and we are better off for his words.