Who is Rich? (Klam) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
As a literary theme, [aged men and their cheating hearts] is about as played out as a dog barking in the distance on a stormy night, but sometimes, miraculously, a writer manages to breath some new life into the subject, even if it takes some hard-core CPR to do it. Matthew Klam…turns out to be one of those writers.… Who Is Rich? is funny, maddening and, despite the well-worn subject matter, defiantly original.
Matthew Schaub - New York Times Book Review


This is an irresistible comic novel that pumps blood back into the anemic tales of middle-aged white guys. Klam may be working in a well-established tradition, but he’s sexier than Richard Russo and more fun than John Updike, whose Protestant angst was always trying to transubstantiate some man’s horniness into a spiritual crisis.… In paragraphs that flow like conversation with a witty, troubled friend, Klam captures Rich’s squirrelly consciousness, swinging from lust to despair, turning his comic eye on others and then on himself.
Ron Charles - Washington Post


Klam explores excess and penury, conspicuous consumption and tortured artistic production, as well as monogamy and its discontents in an acidly funny portrait of a has-been cartoonist..…  [A] worthy addition to American literature’s distinguished line of hapless antiheroes.
Publishers Weekly


Rich once had a modest career as a cartoonist, Amy studies narrative painting, and they so enjoyed their fling that they returned the following year to see whether sparks would fly again. They do, setting off a conflagration that burns down their lives.
Library Journal


There are a few too many scenes of Rich's maudlin musings and philanderer's rationalizations, but when Klam sustains a satirical mode…the novel sings, making Rich a fascinating figure despite his flaws.… A tale of middle-aged ennui that gets sharper as it gets funnier.
Kirkus Reviews