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 • Janet
Maslin, New York Times
Ingenious debut novel…with a wry generosity and haunting poignancy
to rival his wonderfully subversive wit.
• Kyle Smith, People Magazine (Critic's Choice)
Phillips makes this slacker Sun Also Rises a dark star with
a swaggering style…Few first novels blaze with such all-knowing
poise…he may be a great novelist.
• Ron Charles, Christian Science Monitor
A story of devastating emotional accuracy, striking intelligence, and
irrepressible wit…One of the most sophisticated and profound
novels I've read in years, a witty, humane tale of a generation stumbling
in a dim glow that could be dawn or twilight.
• Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Yorker
Rich meditation on post-ideological ennui…really an old-fashioned
novel of ideas…Very funny…likely to leave you aching,
too.
• Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Everything about this dazzling first novel is utterly original… devilishly
clever… [Phillips'] writing is swift, often poetic, unerringly
exact with voices and subtle details of time, place and weather. This
novel is so complete a distillation of its theme and characters that
it leaves a reader wondering how on earth Phillips can follow it up…the
most memorable fiction debut of the year to date.
• Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
There used to be novels…that managed to be both entertaining
and thoughtful. Think Graham Greene or W. Somerset Maugham… But
since those two suave giants died, no one's come along to fill their
shoes. Which is the first of several good reasons to welcome the arrival
of Arthur Phillips…We can stop yearning for that elegant, entertaining
novel that used to be. Thanks to Phillips, it's right here, right now.
• Adam Goodheart, The New York Times Book Review
Wry and skillful...marvelous flights of erudite fancy...a rare balance
of wisdom and imagination.
• Edward Cone, Library Journal
Command[ing] a sweep of history and a mastery of language… Phillips's
exhilarating exploration of time, memory, and nostalgia brings to mind
such giants as Proust and Joyce.
• James Lasdun, The Guardian (UK)
Its author is prodigiously gifted.... A witty, well-informed intelligence
is constantly at play....The writing depends purely on its own flair
and inventiveness, and watching the author find different ways of
rising to the occasion is a part of the pleasure of reading....The
devious machinations of this plot...are handled expertly....A velvety
cream of detail reminiscent of Nabokov.
• Laura Miller, Salon.com
Hilarious and scathing…Reading it is like meandering through
an endlessly diverting city…On any given page of Prague,
you're likely to find yourself purring with pleasure.
• Brigitte Frase, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Prague is an astonishingly good first novel…lyrical
and caustic by turns…sustains a brilliant tension between romanticism
and irony…Phillips has achieved the…hallmarks of the
best European fiction.
• Heller McAlpin, Los Angeles Times Book Review
Phillips' novel has scope, historical perspective and complexity, especially
rare in most first novels…Manages to convey volumes about
his characters… Heartbreaking…a masterpiece of caustic
satire….A substantive book.
• Tim Marchman, The New York Sun
The year's first distinguished American debut novel… A mathematical
elegance of form… Mr. Phillips writes exceptionally well… Budapest
lives in this book…a fine thing for those who value the art
of fiction.
• Time Out London
I found this book warmly nostalgic, a real pleasure for anyone who's
ever experienced the year away.... It's also very funny indeed.
• Julian Rubenstein, Washington Post Book World
Rhapsodic...complex and melancholic...earnest, atmospheric...His Budapest
is...a canvas on which to draw a carefully detailed contrast.
• Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times
Wry, savvy, bittersweet… astonishingly assured… a bravura
performance… The whole novel sings out with seductive Èlan… A
gravitas beneath the book's bright surface calls to mind the rueful-romantic
notes of F. Scott Fitzgerald's best fiction.
• Carlo Wolff, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Arthur Phillips' debut novel is often intoxicating. His descriptions
can astonish, several characters hook you, and the conceit that drives
this ambitious fiction is admirably inventive…Prague bursts
with imagination and style.
• Anderson Tepper, Time Out New York
Prague shimmers with youthful energy and the seductive power
of fleeting possibilities.
• Howard Kissel, New York Daily News
Dazzling first novel…Prague reveals a writer of limitless
imagination and admirable wit. It is an auspicious debut.
• Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides
Arthur Phillips's bold and ambitious novel, Prague, is one of those
rare books that help define and identify a whole generation, in the
same way that Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises introduced
his lost generation.
• Bruce Allen, Kirkus Reviews (cover review)
The first half of 2002 alone can boast brilliant first novels… Good
as these are, they're surpassed by Arthur Phillips's fiendishly clever Prague.
• Tom Leclair, Book Magazine (4½ stars)
Prague is one of the best first novels I've read in several
years...Like the old and beautiful city for which the novel is named, Prague requires
and rewards leisurely exploration.
• Jeff Guinn, Ft Worth Morning Star-Telegram
Unquestionably wonderful Cold War fiction from an unquestionably wonderful
writer. This book should be nothing less than a splendid example
of fine writing for discerning readers.
• Sadakat Kadri, The New Statesman (UK)
Conjures the poignancy of a disappeared Budapest ....for my money,
Phillips has come about as close to nailing the Nineties Left Bank
as tangential can get. The themes that concern him, authenticity
and the elsewhereness of life, mirror those that once drove Czech
emigre authors such as Josef Skvorecky and Milan Kundera.
• Merle Rubin, The Baltimore Sun
His grasp of history, his sense of place, his suave yet nervy prose
style, and his ability to convey the ambivalent feelings of his characters
are most impressive. He has succeeded in writing a sophisticated
yet surprisingly moving novel that will speak to readers…with
a keen sense of irony.
• Michele Ross, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Fresh, ironic, hilarious… Prague amazes the reader
at almost every turn… Prague captures a specific time
and place but does so with the brush of universal humanity.
• Clay Smith, Austin Chronicle
Deeply funny and wise debut…Phillips' angle of attack is sly
and revelatory…all calculation and sublime payoff in one of
2002's most notable accomplishments.
• Mark Schechner, Buffalo News
Phillips' splendid first novel…lives up to the hullabaloo…dazzling…humor
delicately poised on the knife-edge of horror.
• Kit Reed, The Hartford Courant
He draws the reader into the nature of time and memory and cultural
dislocation with tremendous wit and skill…It’s hard
to be funny and elegiac at the same time, but Phillips manages, and
he does it brilliantly. It is the gift of this wonderful new novel.
• Andrew Roe, San Francisco Chronicle
Phillips maintains a tricky balance of satiric and ironic distance
with a genuine exuberance and celebration of youth's strange, beautiful
bloom… A promising new writer who's smart, savvy, and admirably
ambitious; a writer to watch.
• Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Reading "Prague" is both a giddy and an exhilarating
experience…This is one of the most assured and accomplished
first novels of the year
• Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait of My Body
An intricate and wordly-wise novel, with sly and acute perceptions
on every page, Prague sets itself the challenge of extending
the tradition of brainy Central European fiction from an American
perspective, and succeeds handily.
• Maureen Shelly, Time Out New York
(Top 10 Summer Fiction Picks)
How these characters come to lose their naive preconceptions and confront
the real reasons behind their own self-imposed exiles drives this unpredictable,
historically rich first novel.
• Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times
[Prague] will infuse you with its retrospective, bittersweet
wisdom.
• Regina Marler, Amazon.com Editor
…sparkling, Kundera-flavored… Phillips's five seekers
are like mirrors that reflect Budapest at different angles, and that
imperfectly — but wonderfully — point toward the unattainable
city: the glittering, distant Prague.
• Stephen Bloom, BN.com Editor
Superb…rich in history and beautifully written…this is
an auspicious debut.
• Judith Wynn, The Boston Herald
Brilliantly entertaining…artfully crafted comedy…intricate…makes
one hope for a sequel.
• Barbara Dickinson, Roanoke Times and World News
A remarkable tour de force…Phillips‚ descriptions of the
life and atmosphere of Budapest…are perfect…Brilliantly
written.
• John Allison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Captures the post-revolution atmosphere...with precision and pungency...
I have not read any fiction or nonfiction that renders the details...so
successfully....The most substantial fictional treatment to date
of that vibrant period.
• J.P. Trostle, Durham Herald-Sun
Sharp and playful…With his deft use of description and language,
he paints a rich textured portrait…Meticulously drawn…Phillips
probes the peculiarities of desire, unrequited love, and perception…Sometimes
it’s hard to remember this is Phillips’ first novel, it’s
that good.
• William Henderson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
An inside look at the repercussions of being a tourist in your own
life.
• Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
Phillips… has a fine sense of time and place. He's ironic, yet
sympathetic to his characters. He's best when he plays, on several
levels, with the clash of cultures between an old world, burdened by
history, and a new world, blinded by the present.
• Pagan Kennedy, author of Black Livingstone
In Prague, Arthur Phillips spins the Jazz Age novel… A
hip-hop remix of Fitzgerald and Hemingway, a meditation on a generation,
a polemic, a love story, a new branch of sociology, Prague tries
to do it all and succeeds.
• Jonathan Miles, Men's Journal
…a soulful chronicle….Phillips…tiptoes bravely
upon the thematic terrain of Eastern European heavyweights like Milan
Kundera, but with a cool yet swervingly romantic (and American) take;
think The Sun Also Rises updated by Jonathan Franzen and you're
maybe halfway there.
• Raymond Johnston, The Prague Post
An expat novel worth waiting for…filled with precise detail
and knowing insight…a great read…bitingly funny…The
descriptions of the city's key locations reflect the knowledge of somebody
who was there at a special moment.
• Charles Matthews, San Jose Mercury News
Phillips brings to vivid life the shabby-genteel, sometimes brutal
city itself... Phillips is a clever writer, but also one with heart.
And Prague is the kind of novel you feel good about having
spent time with.
• The Newark Star-Ledger
Prague is a wickedly funny examination of aimless youths in
a country undergoing radical social and political change.
• Taylor Antrim, Esquire
[Phillips captures] a uniquely contemporary self-consciousness…Phillips
remains throughout a witty and acute observer of the mid-twenties search
for meaning.
• Polly Paddock, The Charlotte Observer
Phillips is a master of detail, a deft creator of characters, a witty
and energetic stylist…a virtuoso writer…clearly a talent
we'll hear more from.
• Juliet Waters, The Montreal Mirror
Phillips constructs his debut novel like an especially brilliant player
of the game he's invented…Prague is told with wonderful
attention to detail, wit, intelligence and genuine compassion for
its characters.
• Rebecca Dalzell, The Daily Pennsylvanian
A masterful writer. His Budapest is exotic, fascinating and beautiful.
• Jessica Steinhoff, Shepherd Express
Detailed, intoxicating, and often bitingly humorous...Sensitive yet
unsentimental.
• Roger Gathman, Bookpage
[The characters'] trajectories are moving, funny, and above all, interesting.
• Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly
Phillips displays startling talents for metaphor and comic description.
• Andrew Furman, The Miami Herald
Linguistically audacious.
• Elizabeth Bukowski, The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Phillips has a flair for witty dialogue.
• Gail Caldwell, The Boston Globe
Terrifically scintillating tour of…Budapest…The energy
of Prague is as wild and giddy as the year it unfolds.
• Lev Grossman, Time Magazine
…astonishing verbal verve. He has the gift of the perfect snarky
one-liner…
• Michael Sauer, Newcitychicago.com
Phillips really shines…in his portrayal of Hungarian characters,
who make 1990 Budapest dance off the page.
• Schwartz Books, Milwaukee
Prague is so unerring and intelligent, it's almost unthinkable
that it's his debut. |
