PanFinancial Times (UK)Can certainly turn a phrase. But his novel lacks bite ... The biggest problem is that in its core subject, politics, it has little new to say ... David enjoys a meteoric and, we’re told, undeserved rise through the campaign. He is stunningly uninterested in what is going on around him, which — given the pith of what he is involved in — makes him a frustrating narrator ... Readers would be well-advised to stick to that 19th-century classic instead.
Bryan Appleyard
PositiveFinancial Times (UK)At its best, Appleyard’s book stimulates exactly the feeling of being driven by a reckless but charismatic driver. Just as a wild drive is fun until the brakes come on, it is only when you put the book down that you notice the moments that it occasionally careens into bathos ... For the most part, the book rattles along nicely ... Appleyard’s breezy enthusiasm for his subject means that this is less a history, and more of a love letter. That affection is also the book’s shortcoming ... Just as the author is too quick to downplay the social cost of the car, he is too quick to believe Silicon Valley’s promises that the age of the automobile is coming to an end. Still, The Car is a fun ride, while it lasts.
