Brilliant, passionate, outrageous, abrasive, but also, as in the family sonnets, immeasurably tender

Harrison is a masterly technician, and the most fiery and indelible English poet of the age. This book is a vineyard on a volcano

Tony Harrison changed the entire landscape of British poetry

Slangy, rooted, erudite, rhythmic, Harrison is a titan among poets; a unique Yorkshire brew of Auden, Byron, Brecht and Kipling, with a slug of Roman satire

A pessimist with a relish for life . . . whose work insists that it is speech rather than page-bound silence

Tony Harrison writes in a style I have all my life been waiting for; combining the uninhibitedly vernacular with a line as taut and astringent as Racine's

The poem "v." is the most outstanding social poem of the last twenty-five years. Seldom has a British poem of such personal intensity had such universal range

The war poems are important and moving, obviously, but his personal writing made me wipe away surreptitious tears

Tony Harrison is a superbly accessible and talented poet

Whatever note Harrison strikes, be it melancholy regret or boisterous high spirits, the youthful energy to be found in his verse marks him out as a towering figure in poetry

Scatological satire suits him as much as political wit or meditation. World-wide in its topography, powerful in its effects . . . stunning!

One of the few truly great poets writing in English. His range is exhilarating, his clarity and technical mastery a sharp pleasure

Some of the most important poems of the present day

More than any other English poet I have read in recent years, Harrison makes good Camus' claim that the function of art is 'to open the prisons and give a voice to the sorrows and joys of all

He writes clean, unshowy sentences that move easily between the diction of casual speech and a more distanced tone. And he’s able to hold a reader even when there isn’t much going on, relying on assured storytelling rather than busy plotting. All this means that the new book goes down smoothly. It’s also a bit of a tour de force when it comes to social and geographical reach… It’s part of Szalay’s appeal that he’s more interested in getting at the texture of experience than he is in stuffing it into elegant packaging.

He goes to town on nine specimens of the male gender, only surfacing to spit out the bones… The predicaments of the various tormented men come together to produce a rich exploration of male vulnerability… With All That Man Is, Szalay] he emerges as a writer with a voice unlike any other.

Szalay’s audacious new novel… A superb meditation on ageing.

The book is compelling, both for its fine-grained rendering of what one character calls “the texture of existence” and for its intricate patterning of events… His writing pulls you completely into their world. This is a book that I was impatient to return to and regretted finishing

A 100-megawatt book.

[A] boldly sad-funny and clear-eyed new novel.

Szalay’s handling of this material is sensitive, generous and often accomplished. He is adept at evoking the metaphysical stirrings that accompany shifts in light, time, weather… He is capable of sharp, fresh and affecting perceptions… [All That Man Is] offers enriching moments of immersion in the texture of existence.

A wonderfully pan-European collection of stories… All are bleakly funny and brilliantly drawn.

An impressive investigation of masculinity and – with excellent timing – Europe.

Szalay is on the cusp of widespread recognition and acclaim, but it could take the Booker to really tip him in. Szalay’s win would also be a symbolic victory for that generation of writers that seemed to usher in the new millennium by their will and words alone. To put it bluntly, this is the sort of coup that could change the guard of the British literary establishment.

[A] wryly funny work.

A composite portrait of modern masculinity and the foibles of contemporary Europe.

This book is well written, the language is clear and evocative of mood and movement, the observations offered are both simple and profound, the overall effect is a sophisticated commentary on life.

If you haven’t read David Szalay before, these finely crafted, bite size narratives seem like a good place to start.

[It is] scabrous, intelligent and hugely engaging.

Szalay got some of the critical recognition his formidable talent deserves for All That Man Is

[It is] glorious.

A revelation… Not only of a brilliantly inventive and observant writer…but of new possibilities for the novel as a form… I can’t stop thinking about it.

Szalay brilliantly avoids approximation by precisely detailing the inner and outer worlds of his nine very different characters.. [It is] really worth your time – both first and second time through.

A stylish exploration of masculinity that deserved its place on the Booker shortlist.

I’m still struck by just how natural Szalay’s vernacular English voices sound in the mouths of his listless French teenagers, Hungarian bodyguards and cynical Danish journalists.

Szalay’s astute and insightful book focuses on nine different men, each at a tricky stage of life… This is a deft, amusing and often disturbing vision of the plight of the modern European male.

A collection of funny, moving, sometimes desperately sad stories

Deservedly shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize… A compelling masterpiece.

Wonderfully compelling stuff.

A witty deconstruction of modern masculinity.

All That Man Ishas a rather surprising tenderness. A grand project neatly realised.

Szalay paints a bleak yet fascinating picture of European man today.

Beautiful, curious and compelling.

Shortlisted for last year’s Booker, these nine stories about very different men are replete with richly observed humanity, caught on the page as if in the midst of lives that extend backwards and forwards beyond the time we spend with them. Szalay’s writing is virtuosic, whether external realities or psychology… These are the best shirt stories I’ve read for ages.

It is beautifully written, with characters both repulsive and charming in equal measure