''Family fiction and the these are the two competing concerns in Bellow's recent work -- with the combination at its most problematic in his last novel, The Dean's December. Here, however, in five shorter works from the past decade, those seemingly contradictory roles -- the darkly comic memoirist, the thorny essayist -- are on more rewarding display, occasionally even blending in a richly charming way…This welcome gathering presents the restless Bellow voice in full cry -- taut, colorful, Talmudic, and large-hearted.'' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

''[Bellow] is one of the most gifted chroniclers of the Western world.'' --Times (London), praise for the author

''The backbone of twentieth-century American literature has been provided by two novelists -- William Faulkner and Saul Bellow.'' --Philip Roth, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, praise for the author

''Sharp, erudite, beautifully measured…[Bellow] is one of the most gifted chroniclers of the Western world.'' --Times (London), praise for the author

''If the soul is the mind at its purest, best, clearest, busiest, profoundest, then Bellow's charge has been to restore the soul to American literature.'' --New York Times, praise for the author