"Shklovsky's audacity gave him the freedom to take apart Cervantes and Sterne, Gogol and Tolstoy, with a brilliance that still dazzles ninety years later."-The Nation

"Out of Shklovsky's conviction came critical works of great beauty and complexity, but also several utterly remarkable literary works." -Martin Riker

"Shklovsky's audacity gave him the freedom to take apart Cervantes and Sterne, Gogol and Tolstoy, with a brilliance that still dazzles ninety years later."-The Nation

"Shklovsky, who refers to own his style as "serpentine," employs digression, repetition, autobiography and occasional salutations to the reader, confounding one's expectations of how a book of literary criticism should unfold. In doing so, he crafts a true rarity: a superbly written, extended critical study that's capable of inducing a feeling of affection in the reader towards its author."-The Guardian