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Outstanding
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The Spectator Anita Brookner
This is a compelling book, which reads seamlessly, organically, as a novel. Never has a character -- Henry James himself -- been so well served by an author, paying his dues to a writer who scarcely believed in immortality but who was granted it none the less.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Christopher Hitchens
Lodge is very deft in two aspects of his reconstruction: the sexual and the contextual.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Philip Horne
A unique achievement ' very different from "The Master," and for my money offering a more biographically persuasive picture of James the artist as well as a more imaginatively lively and profoundly moving one.
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Favorable
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The Independent Jonathan Heawood
By charting James's experience of these relationships, Lodge draws out an unfamiliar, but extremely likeable version of the author.
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Favorable
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The Independent Peter J Conradi
Witty, humane, full of unshowy imaginative force. Lodge has written a marvellous tragi-comedy about the catharsis of writing, and its costs.
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Favorable
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The Nation Brenda Wineapple
Spirited historical fiction.
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Favorable
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Booklist Donna Seaman
Lodge's take on James' theatrical adventures is suspenseful and empathetic, and his re-creation of James' colorful milieu, including his quirky family, is vivid. [15 Sept 2004, p.179]
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Anna Mundow
Lodge combines wit and erudition here to produce a cunning, audacious portrait.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Anthony Thwaite
An odd and brilliant book.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
A must for Jamesians, with a storyline sturdy enough to draw in the unconverted as well.
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Favorable
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London Review Of Books Terry Eagleton
Author, Author snatches victory from James's own defeat, bringing his thankless labours to a long-delayed fruition.
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Mixed
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New York Review Of Books Rosemary Dinnage
On the whole it works, though there are some longueurs: too much of the overresearched background, at times, and some stiffness in the dialogue.
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
Meticulously researched but disappointingly tepid.
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Mixed
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Entertainment Weekly Mark Harris
Whereas some of Tóibín's language and imaginings reached a state of almost Jamesian grace [in The Master], Lodge's prose in Author, Author is more the diligent work of a quasi-biographer.
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Mixed
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The New York Times Sophie Harrison
The events are all faithfully recorded, but the product is less a novel than an assembly of facts about James that yet lacks the security of a biography.
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Mixed
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Houston Chronicle Barbara Liss
In his endeavor to present his subject faithfully, even reverently, Lodge sacrifices his own witty voice. His subject appears devoid of charm.
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Mixed
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The Economist
Mr Toibin's book is radically different and by far the more interesting of the two.
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Mixed
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Annabel Lyon
Lodge is most interesting when he gets into the nitty-gritty details of the business of writing.
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Mixed
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The Guardian Alan Hollinghurst
All this is interesting and enjoyable, but one comes to feel more and more that Author, Author is limited, as a novel, by its artless closeness to biography.
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Unfavorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Timothy Peters
Lodge's portrait of James is both unappealing and undramatic, though the fault probably lies more with the subject than with Lodge's efforts as the novelist.
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Unfavorable
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Los Angeles Times Deborah Friedell
To Lodge, James is all artist, all literary ambition, fortunately lacking sexual and romantic desires. But what can a writer do with such a person? You can write criticism of his works, poems in praise of him, but as the hero of a novel, a man without any human complications cannot fail to disappoint.
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