PanThe Chicago Tribune[THe novel's] tragedies are so grossly exaggerated that you need a scorecard to try and make sense of where this is going. It's a pity, too. Because if Morrison had fleshed out the characters or the messy situations they find themselves in, we'd get precious insight into why people get trapped in a downward spiraling existence and how that misshapes their lives ... Despite my disappointment at not getting the vintage Morrison that I'd hoped for in God Help the Child, there are still bright moments in it that bear the unmistakable touch of Morrison's magical wordcraft. She paints an image with a sparseness of words as few others can do.