What Would Lynne Tillman Do?

Praise for What Would Lynne Tillman Do

"I've long admired Lynne Tillman's criticism. Her writing is founded on curiosity and deep feeling. It’s precise and imaginative, devoid of jargon or clichéeacute;eacute;. It’s the opposite of what I dislike in criticism, and I know I’m not alone in my appreciation of what she does."—Joanna Fateman, BOOKFORUM

"But like Renata Adler, who experienced a belated renaissance last year, Tillman’s work is ready to be embraced by a new generation of readers. After so many years of waiting for her writing to find its way to more readers, the answer to the question posed on the posters stuck up on buildings in Manhattan and on the cover of her new book couldn’t be more clear: What would Lynne Tillman do? Lynne Tillman would just keep writing."—Jason Diamond, Flavorpill

"[A] singular mastery of rhetoric...palpably excellent...demonstrates a good ear and a knack for skipping to the good part of the story (sex, poison)."—Full Stop

Praise for Lynne Tillman

"Lynne Tillman has always been a hero of mine — not because I 'admire' her writing, (although I do, very, very much), but because I feel it. Imagine driving alone at night. You turn on the radio and hear a song that seems to say it all. That's how I feel...:" — Jonathan Safran Foer

"Lynne Tillman's writing is bracing, absurd, argumentative, and luminous. She never fails to exhibit her unique capacities for watchfulness and astonishment." — Jonathan Lethem

"Like an acupuncturist, Lynne Tillman knows the precise points in which to sink her delicate probes. One of the biggest problems in composing fiction is understanding what to leave out; no one is more severe, more elegant, more shocking in her reticences than Tillman." — Edmund White

“Anything I’ve read by Tillman I’ve devoured." — Anne K. Yoder, The Millions

Praise for American Genius, A Comedy

“Tillman’s prose builds to poetic brilliance." — Entertainment Weekly

“What emerges here is a bold showcase of a novel, a cabinet of curiosity, a proposal for what fiction could be.” — New York Times Book Review

“To read Tillman’s tightly woven novel, which meshes inner and outer realms as well as past and present, is to enter into an intense relationship, a communion with another spirit, perhaps with some sort of genius. An involvement that, like all forms of heightened attention, be it friendship, love, hate, or pursuits intellectual or creative, is demanding and bewitching, harrowing and bemusing, revelatory and transforming.” — Donna Seaman, Bookforum

“Reading the novel is like entering a room crowded with peculiar portraits, all brilliantly drawn. The book is a consummate work, one that levels Western history with family dynamics, pet deaths, Manson family references, the Zulu alphabet, skin disorders, and the loss of memory that afflicts us both personally and as a nation. Tillman once again proves herself a rare master of both elegant and associative writing, urging us to enter the moment, which is all we have and simultaneously cannot keep.” — San Francisco Bay Guardian

"If I needed to name a book that is maybe the most overlooked important piece of fiction in not only the 00s, but in the last 50 years, [American Genius, A Comedy] might be the one. I could read this back to back to back for years." — Blake Butler, HTML Giant

Praise for No Lease on Life

"Confirms and enhances her reputation as one of America's most challenging and adventurous writers." — Guardian

“ … should be awarded a special Pulitzer for the most perfect use of the word “moron” in the history of the American novel."