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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review Jay McInerney
Kunkel manages, just barely, to preserve the superb comic tone of the novel, even as he gestures, like some literary voice in the wilderness, toward a hazy new frontier of hip sincerity, of irony subordinated to a higher calling.
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Outstanding
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Los Angeles Times Mark Rozzo
What often makes "Indecision" itself indecisive--those pointy- headed tangents on globalization, erotic transference and Teutonic philosophy--is precisely what makes this wise and clownish enterprise work so well. [18 Sep 2005, p.R10]
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Outstanding
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New York Observer Anna Shapiro
I’d be happy to take [Dwight] on as a wavering on-again,
off-again boyfriend... if I can’t have the guy, I’ll settle for the book. Decisively. [29 Aug 2005, p.18]
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Favorable
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New York Review Of Books Joyce Carol Oates
Very likely, Kunkel intends his protagonist to be a satiric portrait at times, and at other times a sympathetic portrait, but it's an uneasy mix. The novel's unvarying tone is one of wry self-deprecation, lacking the detachment and savagery requisite for effective satire.
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Favorable
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LA Weekly Claire Messud
Kunkel is clearly smart enough, and courageous enough as a writer, to go farther.
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Favorable
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London Review Of Books Daniel Soar
[A] very serious and very funny novel.
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Favorable
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The Guardian Todd McEwen
The charm and surprise of Indecision make it eminently worth reading. There are a few too many tired-sounding jokes and some straining for effect of the writing-school variety, but any lapses are made up for by fresh insights and observations, scathing and tender.
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Favorable
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The Onion A.V. Club Scott Tobias
Rarely do novels so readily take the form of their protagonist: Behind that seemingly transparent veneer of slacker charm, the kid has some potential after all.
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Favorable
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Village Voice Joy Press
Kunkel... manages to whip up a cerebral novel that doesn't feel overly, uh, cerebral.
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Favorable
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Washington Post John McNally
Because he's young and uses big words, Kunkel may unfairly be compared to David Foster Wallace or Rick Moody, but unlike them he has succeeded in writing a novel that's clever without being self-conscious.
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Oscar Villalon
Lounging among all of [the] slangy "dudes," "likes," "bust a moves" and "mans," and stepping gingerly around paragraphs strewn with explosive packets of wit, is a grown-up crowd of intriguing ideas.
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Favorable
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Slate Michael Agger
Beneath all the wit, Indecision suffers, in its second half, from the kind of speechifying one might find in an [Ayn] Rand novel, and I wonder if their writerly aspirations are all that far apart.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
Old Dwight's book really knocked me out.
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Favorable
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The Independent Nicholas Royle
Although happy endings cannot be taken for granted, the book delivers an uplifting message in dark times.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Christopher Cleave
It takes a rare courage to write a book about things that matter, and a great talent to make it lovable. This novel is an enjoyable, unflinching, deeply politically-engaged invitation to a happier world.
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Mixed
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Daily Telegraph Sam Leith
Benjamin Kunkel has written a book much like its protagonist: diverting, clever, hapless, immature, confused, frequently funny and extremely genial. It leaves you with the impression that he probably has the equipment to write a first-rate novel; but that this isn't it.
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Mixed
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Boston Globe Jay Atkinson
Kunkel's debut novel is a brief, witty, occasionally insightful but ultimately vapid take of a spoiled young man adrift in a world of privilege and comfort.
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Mixed
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The New Yorker
The book, for all its crisp prose, can’t escape the staleness of its conceit.
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Mixed
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The Independent Tim Martin
Despite occasional delights, Indecision remains more of a placebo than a wonder drug.
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Unfavorable
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The Nation Mark Lotto
Benjamin Kunkel may become a serious novelist, but Indecision is not a serious novel.
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Unfavorable
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Entertainment Weekly Gilbert Cruz
Benjamin Kunkel has succeeded in crafting a voice of singular originality--one that you want to punch in the mouth.
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