He has that mixture of lyrical intensity, utter seriousness and capacity for describing life in a few words which characterises some of the best Russian classical authors

There is no novelist writing today who catches the feeling of the moment more surely than Amos Oz

Amos Oz is one of the finest novelists of this entire period.MY MICHAEL is a beautiful work of great depth and in some indescribable way lingers in the mind as a lyric song to his country's people as much as a moving love story.

Amos Oz is a great writer because he tells stories about real people in a way that no-one else can.I not only get joy from reading his work, but as a writer I learn from it, and take example by its excellence, having a great respect for his genius.Finally, these reasons are irrelevant, because there are certain writers in the world who, if you pick up one of their books by chance just as you decide to hang yourself, in despair at not getting very far with one of your own, will save you from doing so.Amos Oz, for me, is one of these.

Amos Oz is a commanding artist who ranks with the most important writers of our time.MY MICHAEL, an early work, reveals him to have been from the first everything we know him to be today: a visionary fabricator of breathtaking power and wit, as well as a crafty interpreter of difficult souls.

What stands out...is Oz's strident lyricism

I'd say it's his best novel yet

There are some breathtakingly eloquent passages

Passionate, well-informed

The story is exciting and memorably analyses the way in which fanaticism can wreck the most inoffensive lives

[Vann is] such a fine craftsman.

Strange and sad and desperately readable

A kind of modern fairy tale, one laced with treachery and trials and the greatest demon of all to battle, the past ... Vann’s novels are striking, uncompromising portraits of American life; here is another exceptional example.

By pulling no punches in this explicit exploration of family, forgiveness, duty, acceptance, parent-child relationships, and what constitutes abuse, Vann has outdone himself.

A 12-year-old’s fragile world, mesmerizing innocence, and emerging adolescence are the heart of this alluring novel … Her fresh voice rings true … Since electrifying the literary world five years ago with his debut novel, Legend of a Suicide, Vann has racked up an astonishing number of international awards. This lovely, wrenching novel should add to that list.

Genuinely thought-provoking.

Vann’s deceptively simple style conceals the story’s raw emotional power.