Lionel Shriver - The New Republic

The Scotsman“A long way from her best work...” All Shriver’s hallmarks are here. There’s a cast of prickly characters, none of whom you are invited to like. There are the same intelligent observations. And yet, after a strong start, 'The New Republic' cannot sustain interest...

Guardian“Almost everything in this novel is predictable...” It's a shame that this novel falls so flat. Shriver, particularly in the mode of Eva in 'Kevin', is capable of extraordinarily good writing – but that praise should not appear on the cover of this book...

The Independent“Should have been left in Shriver's personal, unpublished archive...” The novel is overwritten, overlong and overly pleased with a twist that is telegraphed so unsubtly that it's hard to get excited about it...

Time Out New York“Honed work of caustic geopolitical commentary...” Had it been published in 1998, it would have felt provocative and visionary; in 2012, after we’ve watched a band of extremist outliers create the context for the longest war in American history, its resonances are deeper and more disquieting...

The A.V. Club“Flat, overlong, consistently unfunny...” Shriver seems less interested in using satire as a vehicle for actually being funny than in being a mind-blowing provocateur and shocking readers with disturbing truths...

Publishers Weekly“Done in by a woolly plot and an out-of-date atmosphere...” Though Shriver’s characters are sharply drawn, they lack sympathy, and several plot contrivances are too jarring to overlook....

Los Angeles Times“Shriver is an incisive social satirist...” Yet after delivering a complete and understandable international conflict from thin air, and bolstering it with a few strong plot moves, the book lacks for surprises...

The New York Times“An Evelyn Waugh-inspired satire that uses Sept. 11 at its end...” Her portraits of reporters as lying, self-promoting mercenaries are served up with a leaden hand and quickly devolve into an exercise in vituperation. Her willfully breezy depiction of terrorism is something worse...