PositiveThe Times (UK)Excels at showing how Blume’s personal life fed into her work ... Oppenheimer, who taught journalism at Yale, treats his subject with the seriousness he clearly believes she deserves. His analysis is thoughtful, his fact-checking forensic. There are lots of details, not all of them interesting ... Occasionally, there’s a revelation ... This is not an authorised biography. Blume cooperated at first, giving long interviews as well as access to her inner circle and even sharing her unfinished memoir, but after reading Oppenheimer’s first draft, she withdrew her support and relations soured. If she’s unhappy with the portrayal, it’s unclear why.
Diana Evans
PositiveThe Times (UK)There is enough earthy humour to offset the earnestness in Diana Evans’s ambitious tale of a family in contemporary London ... It also includes sex and love and Portuguese pool parties; gossipy get-togethers celebrating Harry and Meghan’s wedding; and a potentially career-ending appearance in a Catford panto ... Beautifully observed ... Evans also has an exquisite turn of phrase.
Jen Beagin
PositiveThe Times (UK)A bold, idiosyncratic novel ... The humour is black and savage and Greta’s deadpan reactions to the conversations she is transcribing provide plenty of laugh-out-loud moments ... A few gripes: the love story at the centre never quite hits the spot and the romance doesn’t really get a chance to blossom, perhaps because everyone is too busy dissecting their damaged personalities and overanalysing the bin fires of their pasts.
