"An overambitious study of sanity & cognition via its bumptious & affected protagonists. Too many expository themes that don't gel well. The ending is contrived & dialogues are hammy. Disappointing."
"I am an Ishiguro fan, but if this 500 + pages behemoth had a point to it, it was lost on me. It's worth noting that after the debacle of this book Ishiguro hasn't written another postmodernist novel."
"Overlong, overelaborate, and populated by cliched characters, the novel has a cloying, meandering feel to it. Lacks the pace, punch and spark of Tartt's debut novel."
"Selfconsciously twee, sententious and trite . Expect the usual Murdochian allusions to myth and magic. The pseudophilosophical babble only serves to annoy you."
"An interesting subject and story that, annoyingly, never develop properly because Amis is too busy trying to dazzle you with his (admittedly impressive) command over language. It tires you out."
"It's an easy enough read, but not very gripping. Doyle ineffectually tries to build up a sense of foreboding. The ending is predictable and can be guessed half-way through the novel."
"The novel is too whimsical. The storyline, at times, moves into preposterous directions. The deadpan writing-style and obsessive attention to minutiae add to the reader's ennui."
"Relentlessly humorless & suffers from terminal verbosity. The ending is abrupt, as if Roth, himself crushed by all the misery he created, lost the will to continue."
"Derivative in its structure (to a William Faulkner novel), the novel is a cliched and unintersting exercise that stereotypes the Cockney working class."
"A tedious account of life in small-town Minnesota. The novel begins with an unconvincing faux history of the place. Things get progressively worse as the reader is deluged with trivia."
"The opening pages (the best part) deal with the life of fictional Ellis (not wholly original; Theroux has done it before). Then it degenerates into a ludicrous horror story. Unconvincing."
"The three stories are possibly thematically connected, but it is impossible to analyze them satisfactorily. May be it's I who doesn't get postmodernism."
"Patchett takes a tired & tried idea and hacks out a plangent, hackneyed novel. The ending was not a let down because by the time it (mercifully) arrived, I had no expectations."
"The main character (Baxter) is unconvincing. The descriptions are long-winded and go into unnecessary details at times, and serve no purpose other than giving McEwan a chance to show off."
"The narrative, like its title, is flat, with uninspiring, exasperating descriptions of setting. The revelations are predictable despite Frayn disingenuously witholding information."
"Silly technical gimmick & no substance. This unreadable novel, which gives no new insights into the lives of Pollock & Warhol, is a proof (if needed) that Updike's creativity is in terminal decline."
"Starts interestingly enough, but then gets sillier and sillier, and, not to put too fine a point on it, boring. You can inflate an incredibly basic conceit only so much."
