- Published: 24 October 2012
- ISBN: 9780241953754
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 368
- RRP: $22.99
The Free World
- Published: 24 October 2012
- ISBN: 9780241953754
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 368
- RRP: $22.99
Superb ... a major new talent
Independent
Wonderfully uplifting
The Times
Terrific ... Combines comic brilliance with a poignant portrait of a family trapped between two worlds
Sunday Times
Colourful, sharply funny and deeply moving
Financial Times
Alternately comic, sharp and sombre ... it's impossible not to be caught up in the tangled web of its unforgettable case
Daily Mail
A proper novel that bulges and pulses and thrums with life ... I ended up loving it ... The principal tone is wry - mainly comedic, sometimes melancholic, occasionally tragic, ironical, playful, charming ... a rich and occasionally brilliant novel [that] is well worth reading
Observer
David Bezmozgis projects a sense of ease that is very rare in first novels; he does everything well
Telegraph
Self-assured, elegant and perceptive ... [his] taut 2004 debut collection Natasha and Other Stories suggested that he might well be of those authors' [Philip Roth and Leonard Michaels] caliber; The Free World goes a long way toward confirming this status
The New York Times
Heavy with the consciousness of time, the inevitability of crises. Bezmozgis has the knack of ending scenes, chapters, especially, at the perfect reverberant moment, plangent or ironic
Guardian
Delivered in an understated style which can accommodate serious subtext as well as ironical humour ... His portraits of the family circle are neatly rendered and compassionate ... There is no doubt Bezmozgis remains a writer worth monitoring
Independent on Sunday
A wonderful affirmation of the most novelish kinds of virtues ... Bezmozgis choreographs his work beautifully; with a drip-feed of revelations that humanises the characters and undercuts the reader's partial judgements on them ... A Chekhovian tragicomedy; part heartbreaking farce and part risible melancholy ... Like Gary Shteyngart, [Bezmozgis] is brilliantly able to use the former Cold War enemies as foils to each other. Each side is as bad as the other; and the humans are always caught in the middle of the muddle
Scotsman
Quietly astonishing fables of unmistakeable brilliance ... Breathtaking
Observer on Natasha and other Stories
With a maturity and control far beyond his years, Mr Bezmozgis has produced a captivating and impressive debut. The title story itself is one I will never forget
Jeffrey Eugenides
Passionately full of life ... his literary skills [are] remarkable
James Wood, London Review of Books
He is being described as the new Philip Roth, the new Chekhov ... the hype may not be entirely exaggerated
Guardian
Scary good ... Not a line or note in the book rings false
Esquire
A stunning first collection, characterized by a painful honesty and clarity of vision ... Bezmozgis writes with compassion, quietly reminding us of the hidden beauty within human imperfection
Julie Orringer, The Believer