Literary Significance and Reception
Reviews have praised the novels realism, believable characters and dialogue, sense of place and the complexity of the novel. The Guardian picked out Pelecanos ability to provide authentic voices for his characters but criticised instances where the narrative voice was inconsistent with the reality of the character. Other reviewers have commented that the gory detail and social realism may be offputting for some readers. The New York Times commented that the blaming of some of the characters behaviour on the absence of father figures may be an oversimplification.
Read more about this topic: Soul Circus (novel)
Famous quotes containing the words literary, significance and/or reception:
“I went to a literary gathering once.... The place was filled with people who looked as if they had been scraped up out of drains. The ladies ran to draped plush dresses—for Art; to wreaths of silken flowerets in the hair—for Femininity; and, somewhere between the two adornments, to chain-drive pince-nez—for Astigmatism. The gentlemen were small and somewhat in need of dusting.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)