“When you write about Peter Matthiessen, ‘great’ is a word you are sorry to have overused.… He has a genius for turning the story of where he has been into something intelligent and permanent and grand.”
—San Francisco Examiner
“Riveting … Matthiessen has lost none of his skill for describing action.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“Matthiessen is two-thirds of the way toward realizing a monumental portrait of a ruinous time and a nearly ruined place.”
—Outside
“Wild and tragic.… Deeply textured.… We are forced to understand that this is not Mister Watson’s story anymore. It is not even Mister Matthiessen’s. It is ours.”
—The Seattle Times
“Elegant storytelling … deeply textured.… A family saga full of regret and shattered lives.”
—The Miami Herald
“As with Killing Mister Watson … Matthiessen’s loving descriptions of wildlife, human swamp dwellers and the interwoven land and water of the coastal islands … is first rate.”
—Time
“[Matthiessen is] one of our few genuine masters.”
—Thomas McGuane
“An original and powerful artist … who has produced as impressive a body of work as that of any writer of our time.”
—William Styron
“A large, vivid, ambitious novel … a powerful meditation on the sources of American violence. Matthiessen has produced one of the best novels of recent years.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Acclaim for
KILLING MISTER WATSON
“What a marvel of invention this novel is … a virtuoso performance. Killing Mister Watson is Peter Matthiessen at his best.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“This novel stands with the best that our nation has produced as literature.… As a philosophical study of the quality of human—and all—nature, it is first rate. As a political allegory, it is stunning.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Intricately structured, richly documented, utterly convincing … certain to linger in the memory like an experience we have lived through.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“Matthiessen’s moral anguish is inescapable, and he can write like an avenging angel.”
—Time
“An important and deeply satisfying book, and one that may justifiably be compared to the very finest of American novels.”
—St. Petersburg Times
“A stunning, imaginative feat.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Brilliant … Killing Mister Watson is spellbinding.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Powerful and unforgettable.”
—Chicago Tribune
“A work of freewheeling imagination … creating engaging, vivid and convincing voices.”
—The Boston Globe