Sweeping ... A novel this broad has to move quickly, and depend on speech to deliver key details. O’Hagan’s dialogue can feel stilted and unnatural ... A rich, moving attempt to listen to the swell of human life, but O’Hagan occasionally falls into the same trap as his protagonist.
While O’Hagan’s novel has funny bits, it is fundamentally glum, befitting the time and place of its writing ... Intended as social criticism, it somewhat falls down as fiction. Snappy dialogue can’t rescue a number of characters from sounding like types.
A clever premise for a story. Or would be, if O’Hagan had concentrated on it ... An interesting idea for a caper. Or would be, if O’Hagan had concentrated on it ... The strands feel more like a series of loosely-linked narratives than a cohesive whole ... That said, there are plenty of terrific moments ... It all adds up to a bit of a muddle, but an enjoyable muddle.