PositiveThe Washington PostSpirited ... Wallace blends biography, art criticism, reportage and essayistic digressions to create a portrait of a man so disillusioned with civilization that he sought to \'rewild himself\' ... Wallace’s thesis about a playboy intent on living according to his untamed impulses...is convincingly argued in Twentieth-Century Man, and the man is sharper as a result ... Wallace also drops any pretense at objective distance, preferring something more intimate and brashly opinionated ... A reader’s tolerance for...meta commentary will vary, though Wallace deserves credit for grappling so directly with many difficult subjects ... Wallace, a former executive editor at Interview magazine, is good at dishing up the gossip ... Less persuasive is the presentation of Beard’s ideas around conservation and the natural world ... Beard...was possibly a sociopath, fascinating to read about, but ultimately a bit frightening when you survey all the evidence.
Hanya Yanagihara
RaveThe Sydney Morning HeraldYanagihara\'s editor has publicly described the book as a \'miserablist epic\', and the label is apt. Surprisingly, the actual events rarely feel gratuitous in the moment of telling, even at their most baroque. There is no question of this being a work of realism. It is more akin to Greek tragedy ... But the violence and excess do serve a purpose in A Little Life , which elevates by the unflinching finale into what can only be described as a masterpiece of endurance. Yanagihara is not a sadist; rather, she is interested in pushing reader empathy as far as it can go, and interested in putting the concept of friendship under tremendous, vice-like weight. How much can we endure for each other? Do we stay alive for the wellbeing of our friends? Are friends enough to insulate against the injustices of the world? These questions are left hanging, ambivalently, but rarely have they been asked with such memorable force.
