National Book Critics Circle Award finalists
A New York Times Notable Book of 2011
"Hefty and remarkable .....These byways, all of which make room for
eccentric flights as well as proper essays, augment the charm and
impact of what Lethem prefers to call an ''autobiographical
collage,'' a phrase he lifts from Vonnegut. This influence seems
only natural, for dominating all is Lethem''s prime concern always:
the novel....generous....exciting....openhearted,
unconventional."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Did I say I love this book? Well, OK then, I love this
book....bring[s] a novelist''s sensibility to these essays, to find
a through line, to approximate a narrative. It offers a way, in
other words, to rethink the collection as a book in its own right -
and not just that, but a book about a big idea."
--The Los Angeles Times
"He's a novelist who has spent a lifetime creating his own
subversive pantheon, a jumpy CBGB's of the literary soul….Several
of the essays here marinate in the fish sauce that is literary
gossip…..feisty, freewheeling….funny"-The New York
Times
"The Ecstasy of Influence is, more than anything, a record
of Mr. Lethem's life as a public novelist, a role for which he is
obviously well suited…..Mr. Lethem has such a gift, and The
Ecstasy of Influence is evidence of it."-The New York
Observer
"The writer I most wish was my best friend....impressively
omnivorous new collection of mostly non-fiction....reveal a lively,
even manic mind at play across a wide and wonderful series of
subjects that are threaded together, mostly, as a kind of
autobiography of a would-be writer becoming a struggling writer and
then a successful writer while all the while remaining a voracious
reader.....This book is its own kind of dense and dreamy zoo, and
even if you don't listen to Echo Echo in your basement apartment,
you'll still find much in here to enjoy and know you're enjoying
and know that Lethem knows you're enjoying as much as he does."
--The National Post
"Conceptual ambition, sense of purpose and a fan's evangelical
devotion distinguish this collection from the typical novelist's
gathering of nonfiction miscellany.....impressively rich....In
addition to being a writer who blurs the distinction between genre
fiction (sci-fi, detective, western) and postmodern literature (a
term he questions), Lethem writes with a commitment to sharing his
enthusiasm for whatever obsesses him....While the results
illuminate his formative influences and artistic development, they
also cast considerable light on the culture at large, which is both
reflected in Lethem's work and has profoundly shaped
it.....Intensifying that intimacy, he shares his complicated
relationships.... high ambitions and a strong sense of
purpose."-
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Peppery nonfiction....provocative tour de force....thoughtful and
rambunctious....dynamically juxtaposed and connected....to create a
jazzy, patchwork memoir....hilarious....fresh, erudite,
zestful, funny frolic in the great fields of creativity."
--Booklist