Book Reviews
Though Chronic City at times requires patience, it is a luxuriously stylized paean to Gotham City.... [I]ts prose shines like our skyline at sunset. The key to his city lies in the very notion of reality: Chase Insteadman's moniker implies that this former actor is now just a stand-in for a greater (perhaps former) reality.—Arthur Nersesian (A Signature Review)
Publishers Weekly
As with his other novels, the pleasure of this work is derived from the inventiveness of Lethem's characters and his verbal dexterity in description. Although the novel is slow to gain momentum, fans of Lethem's wor will be rewarded for their patience with insight into the truthfulness of reality. —Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH
Library Journal
One of America's finest novelists explores the disconnections among art, government, space travel and parallel realities, as his characters hunger for elusive meaning.... [A]brilliantly rich novel.... Lethem's most ambitious work to date, and his best since Motherless Brooklyn (2001).
Kirkus Reviews