“Clarke’s strategy helps give the novel’s satire of the casual corruption induced by capitalism as it intersects with middle class aspiration–which no doubt represents its dominant ambition–a greater continuity and cogency, but also works to keep attention on character, so that the satire does not merely disappear into plot or, by the end of the novel, melodrama. What the novel wants to “say” about the decadence of capitalism, while evident enough, does not overshadow an accompanying comedy of psychological confusion that is perhaps even more telling.”

—Daniel Green, Unbeaten Paths