RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewDe La Pava has an ear for language: the way it evolves and sometimes devours itself. The exchanges between Riv and his cousins, Mauro and Fercho, provide the novel’s funniest, most revealing passages ... De La Pava’s commitment to ideas — their creation and their interrogation — is so fervid that it lights up his prose. Riv wants to take us somewhere new, as intellectual strivers always want to, whether their stories are bound within a philosophical argument, a sweeping historical epic or a good old-fashioned detective yarn. It’s invigorating to be dropped in the middle of such an effort and to feel that whatever we might guess is coming next, the truth is likely to be much, much stranger.
