A strikingly original collection . . . imaginative, insightful, witty and sad. –Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
An already dazzling writer shows us a new card. . . . Men and Cartoons ends on a note that portends Lethem's most experimental turn yet: toward human love as [a transporting] alternate universe. . . . Lethem in a new, more nakedly personal key. –San Francisco Chronicle
Lethem is the man to beat in fiction these days. . . . Every tale of ennui, cosmic regret and petty yearning is perfectly realized. The brevity of the book and perfection of the stories puts every other member of his generation to shame. –Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Ineffably poignant. –Time
His sheer inventiveness is a treat. . . . Affecting and clever, these tales are standouts. –People
Terrific. . . . Lethem captures the world we know and the one hovering just beyond our periphery. –The Baltimore Sun
A pleasure. . . . These stories offer potent little distillations of Lethem's considerable imagination. –Entertainment Weekly
Compelling. . . . Effective. . . . Intelligent and poignant. . . . Strange, amusing, haunting. . . . Lethem has what musicians call 'chops, ' or technical mastery. He can mix and match prose styles and literary genres to create glittering fictional artifacts. . . . Each of these nine tales rewards the reader in some way–through an insight, a scene or simply the force of the author's imagination. –St. Petersburg Times
Bristling with familiarity. . . . Theme[s] that resonate. . . . [Lethem is] adept at letting palpable human experiences emerge from absurd, fantastical situations. –The San Diego Union-Tribune
Nuanced. . . . Resonates with intense force. –Newsday
Laugh-out-loud funny tales of love, flamboyance, and childhood memories. –Elle
Smart. . . . Original. . . . Memorable. . . . Lethem is . . . [like] the Coen Brothers of fiction. –The Seattle Times
Men and Cartoons will open up a vast new world to readers unfamiliar with Lethem's oeuvre. . . . The entries are uniformly fine–each in its own way representative of Lethem's mastery of whatever style he attempts. –Rocky Mountain News
Fantastic. –Vanity Fair
Engaging. . . . A Lethem primer. . . . The characters of Men and Cartoons need their stories to be told. –The Village Voice
Jonathan Lethem spits out genres like curse words–from sci-fi to pseudo-erotica to the
epistolary. His narrative psychosis is our disturbed enjoyment. –Genre Magazine
Wonderful. . . . A collection of tales based in Brooklyn but permeated with fantasy [from] the very talented Mr. Lethem. –The Hartford Courant
Lethem at his best. . . . [An] appealing array of stories [that] exemplify Lethem's talents as a profoundly imaginative writer. –Chattanooga Times Free Press