“The novellas represent no change in Mr. O’Hara’s method. He normally puts everything into a novel, including the kitchen sink complete with stopped drain, plumber, and plumber’s mate, and does this not once, but four or five times per book. The novella form has merely limited the author in a statistical way; one kitchen sink is all he can fit into his predetermined space…
Atlantic Monthly
When O’Hara is good he is very, very good; when he is bad he is writing for Hollywood…an exercise in tedium.”
New York Herald Tribune
“One might suggest…that the inhabitants of hell be condemned to an eternity reading stories behind the headlines in American tabloids….John O’Hara’s new collection of short stories brings the whole realm uncomfortably close. It is a punishment to read….”
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
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