'These stories leap off the page to assume the quality of sound in the mind...this boy can write' Richard Williams, Guardian

'Set in the frigid temperatures of Minneapolis and New York, the best stories in this collection depict the shabby aspirations of Americans locked in dead-end families and middle-class anxieties...Coen's stories are as good as anything in contemporary American fiction'

'In Gates of Eden, Mr Coen has sounded the jagged dissonance of the American experience'

'A formidable writer, possessing a keen eye for the small manifestations of deep emotion'

'Coen delights in juxtaposing tone, character and setting to comic and chilling effect. But what is really on display here is his startling ventriloquism, his facility with creating distinct and authentic voices. And boy, can his characters talk. Some simply want to tell a story, some need to defend themselves, and some desperately crave understanding for their crimes, although they are aware that forgiveness is an illusion and a sense of humor a necessity...his writing is affecting and evocative'

'A superb fictional debut, impossible to read without grinning or grimacing'

'Superb short stories...Coen's pitch-perfect ear for American demotic is on proud display. His fascination with people who talk but never listen - and the lingustic impasse that results when they get together - is almost Beckettian'