“An abundant, even opulent, creative act . . . Very often Mr. Updike’s fantastic talent for mimicry produces quite marvelous results.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The Atlantic Monthly
“Using the excuse of nineteenth-century speech, Updike has indulged his love of beautiful, ornate prose; we can sink deep into sentences balanced like mobiles and turned like pots on the wheel.”—Chicago Tribune
“In the real-life figure of the too hastily judged James Buchanan . . . Updike has at last found vehicles for his gifts of compassion and capacity to create characters ‘in the round.’ ”—Financial Times
