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Reviews
Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant
This is the book which has aroused considerable advance speculation and well it might; it has a tremendous reader recognition . . . there cannot be much doubt that Mary McCarthy is an exceptional social satirist, with a jackdaw eye and an infallible ear
Feels like discovering a thrilling secret. Its prose shows a master stylist at work, its aesthetics are striking - all ivory-tipped cigarettes, hand-pureed pâté, Vassar socialists in dungarees - and it has a surprise queer romance that twists the whole narrative into new shape. It's my new standard for a summer read: lavish, hilarious, smart and mean, like a glamorous friend you're torn between fearing and crushing on
Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant
Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life
Few works of literature can genuinely be termed "ahead of their time"
Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece
A woman of intellect and style
Scalpel-keen prose, honed on ruthless wit and insight
McCarthy's dissection of this disparate group - highly educated but powerless in a world of men - is witty and merciless but tinged with sadness.
*'A brilliant novel:honest, engaging and sharp as a tack
Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining
McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes
A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack
Her greatest novel . . . marvellous . . . a prophetic book which set the scene . . . for the novels of protest and liberation in the next decade
Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining
One of my favourite books ever
*'One of my favourite books ever
She is a sparkler, a very funny, very savage moralist, and a brilliant mimic
