You might think of this novel as a rebuttal or counterpoint to its forerunner, a book that replaces roseate campus fantasy with spikier societal conflicts ... Harbach has likely exposed himself to criticism by anatomizing feminist politics and assuming the perspectives of 20-something coeds, though I think his characterizations are generous and insightful ... The soul of The Brightness remains at Westish, which Mr. Harbach depicts with fewer illusions but no less love.
A large, enjoyable novel that could be called quasi-historical and even accused of having a 'whole boring "plot"' ... The Brightness portrays this particular kind of youthful political action with a touching mixture of the high-mindedness, impishness, bravado, self-aggrandizement, and pointlessness that such events really contain ... Harbach is a gifted observer of undergraduates, their pathos and their comedy, but his Westish is a gentle and perhaps too-good-natured institution, where even the jocks are nerds ... Suffers from its own problems with thin disguises ... These flaws are all the more frustrating because so much of The Brightness is beautiful and perceptive ... To prove that an old-fashioned book can be excellent, it isn’t necessary to dramatize arguments about the form. You need only a prose style, an interest in people, and a sense of society. In art as in sports, the best defense is a good offense.
