Martel...has set himself no small challenge in taking on Homer, academia and family tragedy; the results are a mixed bag. His portrayal of academic life will leave real professors wincing, if not giggling ... Despite the obvious research that Martel put into his novel, there are too many gaffes about Homer and Greek epic to persuade any expert ... Martel...can also bring a witty freshness to standard elements of Homeric narrative ... The narration of their confrontation...has real power ... And yet the novel itself never does. The great problem with Son of Nobody is that the book’s central device...is wholly unpersuasive ... Had Son of Nobody been less focused on family drama and class consciousness, it might have explored, with greater rigor and ingenuity, the implications of some very old questions...that its story flirts with but never really engages. That would have been epic.
An ambitious, often captivating novel ... Beguiling ... On close reading, Martel’s central conceit has a few shortcomings ... But Martel’s imagination is amply matched by his craft ... Son of Nobody invites readers to take part in its playfulness, ensnares them with a superb imitation epic, and then slowly shatters their hearts.
Inventive ... This tale has an unusual format ... Martel’s brilliant examination of how history is made and of who pays the price for all-consuming obsessions is original, thought-provoking, and utterly absorbing.
Inspired, but the execution—as in Life of Pi—leans more toward the commercial than the Booker ... The flaw in both Life of Pi and Son of Nobody is not fatal but is wounding: sentimentality ... Not a work of monstrosity or profundity. Instead, I think, it’s like Life of Pi, a work of ingenuity ... Son of Nobody is a more thoughtful and considerably more literary book than Life of Pi but still a wasted opportunity to create a novel, this time really worthy of a Booker Prize.
A brilliant novel of ideas ... The story is a powerful meditation on life, death, and the vanity of human wishes, all illustrated by a poem that would do Homer proud. A stunningly imagined revisitation of an ancient past that is every bit as awful as the present.
Inspired ... Some may find Martel’s grand motifs a bit overdrawn, but his hero’s devotion for ancient poetry is contagious ... It’s an appealing labor of love.
