Cheeky ... Though this is Adrian’s sixth book, it brims with the self-assured audacity behind nearly every great debut ... An utterly compelling picaresque ... The book’s many self-references, and references to those self-references, are what make the reading experience such fun ... A finale full of surprises, including...one perfectly executed reversal of our expectations ... For its wit and perspicacity, Seduction Theory can easily be cataloged in the company of Ann Beattie’s Walks With Men.
Smart, funny and enjoyable ... Its clever conceits—though perhaps lent on just a tad too heavily in the concluding pages—in no way detract from the novel’s other myriad charms ... A compelling narrative ... An engaging, entertaining puzzle.
Sharply satiric ... It would matter more if we liked Ethan and Simone more. Nonetheless, Ms. Adrian brilliantly and hilariously captures academic life.
