SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Sunday, August 17, 2008, front page arts section:
"Mendelsohn looks searchingly and fearlessly both into the subject and into himself. There is never a sense of deliberate contrariness or determination to be different simply for its own sake; what you get is genuine originality and, where necessary, iconoclasm that bear fruit in a fresh look at whatever is under discussion...
This is an uncommon reader, on account of who and what he is and of what he knows. It is a measure of our times that the academy, host to so much mediocrity, could have let such a genuinely inspired critic slip through its hands. But these essays show that all that scholarship had a formative effect on Mendelsohn.When he speaks of Greek or Roman writers, it is with the authority of a scholar. But he can yoke together Euripides and [Tennessee] Williams to the benefit of both, and more breathtakingly still, without in any way cheapening or falsely aggrandizing either, "Medea" and "Desperate Housewives." His sweep as a cultural critic is as impressive as his depth."
Richard Eder in the LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW, Sunday, August 17, 2008:
"His wit is invariably harnessed to a graver wisdom; the verve and sparkle to an underlying conviction, often anguished. The epigrams have a purpose other than themselves...Sharp as he can be in his judgments, he is equally sharp in identifying the virtues of what he doesn't like. He gives a spacious view of the countryside, whatever the particular road he hews through it. He takes his subjects seriously, but not himself. Like Snow White, you might say, he whistles while he works...Through all the variety, one theme recurs: the tendency of our interpreters to soften history and the art of the past by bending it to contemporary concerns."
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER: "Brilliant...one of the best critics going."
"Daniel Mendelsohn brightens the dour New York Review of Books like few other contributors. . .He writes reviews as cultural commentary...Mr. Mendelsohn attempts to elevate his readers from consumers to participants. WeÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂre not merely spectators booing and applauding...WeÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂre esteemed citizens in a republic of the arts, debating the merits of Roth, Sebold et al., electing a few to lead us and banishing others to the cultural hinterlands.
"September 11 at the Movies" is probably the smartest and most moving essay I have read about artistic responses to that day."
TIME OUT NEW YORK: "Formidable Essays":
"...upon closing the book, most readers will find themselves longing to revisit their own libraries and DVDs, or to go right out to the movies, seized by a sudden, ravenous hunger for art."
BOOKLIST: "Brilliant and soulful criticism"
"...A classicist by training and a critic by trade, [Mendelsohn] begins with a challenging subject and gloriously complicates it by drawing on his erudition, acumen, and passion for precision and bedrock truth...Drawn to literature, theater, and films with a link to Greek and Roman culture, however subterranean, Mendelsohn reaches an exhilaratingly high level of discourse as he grapples with Oliver StoneÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Alexander, The Lovely Bones, Truman Capote, films about 9/11, and Tony KushnerÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Angels in America. This impressive volumeÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs poetic title is from Tennessee Williams and provides the catalyst for MendelsohnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs own profound musing over the timeless bond between the beautiful and the broken. These are works of brilliant and soulful criticism."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: STARRED REVIEW
* In this elegant collection of essays mostly from the New York Review of Books, NBCC awardÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂwinning author Mendelsohn reveals intellectual breadth in his ability to draw on his training as a classicist to look at contemporary culture, from movies like Kill Bill to Broadway musicals like The Producers, and the novels Middlesex and Everyman. They are springboards for MendelsohnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs agile mind to examine subjects like gender, homosexuality, war and peace...magisterial...These essays richly repay the time readers spend in their company. (Aug. 12)
