The Broken Estate

A book that makes you feel, having closed it, as if your mind has been oxygenated

Natasha Walter, Independent

A close reader of genius... Illuminating and exciting and compelling... one never doubts the soundness of his judgements... There is wonderful writing throughout this collection, by turns luscious and muscular, committed and disdaining, passionate and minutely considered

John Banville, Irish Times

He is a true critic: an urgent, impassioned reader of literature, a tireless interpreter, a live and learned intelligence, good writing company

Malcolm Bradbury, New Statesman

He is one of literature's true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness

Susan Sontag

He speaks in a manner dedicated to establishing no less than the truth

New York Times

Magnificent... Like all good critics, he is a story-teller of the art of reading, recreating the experience on the page for us

Evening Standard, Francis Spufford

We have very few critics who can vie with Jarrell and Toynbee, who can remind us that talking about literature is a part of what literature is about, and talking about it with passion, precision, and out of a rich store of reading is a rare and precious gift: it is good for all of us that James Wood has it and we have James Wood

Gabriel Josipovici, Times Literary Supplement

Wood is not just a keen critic, our best, but a superb writer

Adam Begley, Financial Times