Although The Newer World is certainly understandable as a stand-alone novel, it is probably best approached and appreciated as the third part of a trilogy. ... Strives to be more psychologically and emotionally complex than its precursors but ends up feeling significantly less sure-footed and coherent.
Part Bildungsroman, part picaresque ... It’s an astonishing effect, especially when you consider the near-miracles Barry performs with language. In his hands it attains registers that can only be described as soaring; a vertiginous high wire of prose.
Suffers from a peculiarly bloodless sense of composure in the face of historical outrage ... Confidently frictionless clemency ... To insist so floridly on your artistic liberty as a bulwark against tyranny, then use it simply to invent a survivor who invites us to reflect on slavery’s legacy by thinking, Oh, humanity: is that really what this great writer is ready to go to the gulag for?
