PositiveThe Spectator (UK)... evokes a certain time and milieu ... The story has been told before, by Nabokov, among others ... The suspense in Consent comes from waiting for someone to step in ... [Springora\'s] contempt is cool and sardonic and the prose spare ... This isn’t a misery memoir, or an account of survival against all odds. It reads like a dark fairy tale ... Alice has fallen through the looking-glass. I can’t help but cheer her on. Matzneff’s legacy is now enmeshed forever in this clever, thoughtful and honest book.
