"Absorbing.... Even if you don’t see your relatives in these pages, you’ll learn to appreciate their ungainly efforts to reach out and maintain those old filial bonds....What holds our interest is Haddon’s extraordinary sympathy, his ability to reveal what stirs these people beneath their congenial holiday faces....a brilliant portrayal of the asymmetric nature of resentment within families....But it’s Hardon’s peculiar structure that raises this family drama to something exceptional. He’s perfected a constantly shifting perspective that keeps our sympathies from taking root in any one of these characters....the effect is symphonic....Haddon wends a careful path in this novel between the effervescent comedy of quirky families and the bitter tragedy of dysfunctional ones."
--The Washington Post
"A story of remarkable complexity, exploring the rich interior lives of his characters.....Most impressive is the ambitious structure of this novel....there's an abundance of dark humor....the story moves along swiftly and seamlessly."
--USA Today
“In this absorbing, Virginia Woolf-esque novel by the author of
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, an extended family gathers for a week in the English countryside. Perfect (or not) for that holiday with the in-laws.”
--People
"“The story unfolds from all eight characters’ points of view, a tricky strategy that pays off, letting Haddon dig convincingly into all of the failures, worries and weaknesses that they can’t leave behind"
--Entertainment Weekly
"Particularly fresh and true"
--O Magazine
“A beautiful and authentic portrait of a blended family and the secrets, grudges and desires that keep its members apart”
--Real Simple
"In Mark Haddon's The Red House, a nuclear family detonates delightfully....particular, vivid, attentive....a wonderful perspective"
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A fun, fast-paced read from one of our finest storytellers"
--Dallas Morning News
"THE RED HOUSE employs the same empathy for its varied characters and the same sharply observed, skewed view of the 'ordinary' world....creates a mosaic whose pieces add up to a picture no one character can see....satisfying and believable....Haddon writes with a gentle, compassionate sense of irony"
--Columbus Dispatch
"Haddon peers inside the messy dynamics of a group of relatives, each grappling with their own fears and trying to make sense of themselves as a family....braids together themes of sexual identity, parental insecurity and sibling rivalry, and no one gets away unscathed"
--NPR
"Exciting and accessible"
--The Daily Beast
“Amusing and poignant as it explores a family’s fumbling attempts at connection”
--Whole Living
"Surprising and deeply moving....the set-up ensures that there will be revelations, twists and shifts in the family dynamic....sustaining suspense....while enriching the developing relationships among people....organic rather than contrived, the characters convincing throughout, the tone compassionate and the writing wise. A novel to savor."
--Kirkus, starred review
“[Haddon] is almost unrivalled at the notoriously tricky task of giving an authentic voice to children, and his ability to pinpoint the comic aspects of the everyday scenarios.”
--Sunday Times
"A masterly evocation of two dysfunctional, yet outwardly respectable families."
--Sunday Express
“Mark Haddon is terrifyingly talented.”
--Times (UK)
"A serious, lyrical, complex novel....beautiful"
--The Herald
"Hugely enjoyable, sympathetic novel would make perfect reading for those setting out on holiday"
--The Observer
"[Haddon is] a master craftsman"
--The Independent
"With writing as elegant and truthful as this, readers will wish to keep their copies close at hand to savour again.”
--The Daily Mail
"[Haddon] writes like a dream. Never showy, but often lyrically descriptive, he takes the reader with him to the core of this crazy family. Secondly, he has a true understanding of the human heart."
--Spectator
"It’s every bit as charmingly idiosyncratic as his brilliant
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”--The Daily Mirror
"Engaging....From the first page in which the train carrying Dominic and Angela's family "unzips the fields", there is a vigor to Haddon's prose which carries you along. I read it twice, both times with enjoyment.”
--The Independent
Praise for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
“A triumph of empathy.”
—
The New Yorker“Gloriously eccentric and wonderfully intelligent.”
—
The Boston Globe
“Moving . . . wonderfully vivid . . . Mr. Haddon writes with such sympathy, such understanding.”
—Michiko Kakutani,
The New York Times“Haddon’s book illuminates the way one mind works so precisely, so humanely, that it reads like both an acutely observed case study and an artful exploration of a different ‘mystery’: the thoughts and feelings we share even with those very different from us.”
—
Entertainment Weekly“Funny, sad and totally convincing.”
—
Time
Praise for A Spot of Bother
“So astute, so gently funny, so touching, that you get caught up in the fate of the well-meaning, if slightly imprudent, Hall family.”
—
USA Today“Snaps, crackles and pops with humor and pathos as Haddon depicts family members driving one another crazy . . . sparklingly written with short, punchy chapters . . . Haddon deftly pulls this off with what we can now hail as his trademark tenderness.”
—
Los Angeles Times“A nonstop pleasure.”
—
People“Superbly entertaining . . . Haddon’s particular genius, however, lies in the unobtrusive way he makes us identify with his characters . . . fine craftsmanship.”
—
The Washington Post Book World
“Totally brilliant . . . [Haddon is]so wondrously articulate, so rigorous in thinking through his characters’ mind-sets, that
A Spot of Bother serves as a fine example of why novels exit.”
—
The New York Times Book Review
