Critical Reception
The Guardian praised the book as 'a great lark; its author has an agreeable sense of comedy and characterisation, and the gift of writing smart and telling conversation, while his drawings are quite in tune with the spirit of the tale'. The newspaper also compared the superficial presentation in the novel to that employed by P. G. Wodehouse. Arnold Bennett hailed it as 'an uncompromising and brilliantly malicious satire' and the writer John Mortimer called it Waugh's 'most perfect novel...a ruthlessly comic plot.'
Read more about this topic: Decline And Fall
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or reception:
“Good critical writing is measured by the perception and evaluation of the subject; bad critical writing by the necessity of maintaining the professional standing of the critic.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)