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Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year
"[A] bold, compassionate, genre-hopping novel." --
The New York Times Book Review "Superb: a work of psychological precision and moral force, with an immediacy that captures both timeless human truth and the perplexities of the present day." --Colson Whitehead
"[A] brutal, beautiful masterpiece." --NPR
"Exhilarating." --
Los Angeles Times "Haunting." --
Esquire "A subtle, nuanced, fierce novel." --Julian Barnes,
The Guardian "One of more consistently brilliant, bold, and funny writers." --Dave Eggers
"
Dinner at the Center of the Earth blends elements of spy thriller and love story, magical realism, and an all-too-real history of one of the world's most intractable problems: peace between Israel and its neighbors." --
The Boston Globe "It's difficult to describe Englander's novel without giving something away. There's a delicious puzzle that becomes evident as it unfolds. . . . As weighty and political as
Dinner at the Center of the Earth seems, it's also a plot-driven page-turner. . . . We must now compare Englander to Graham Greene as well as Philip Roth. And he comes off well in the comparison." --
Houston Chronicle "
Dinner at the Center of the Earth illuminates the zealot's blindness, the patriot's struggle for clarity, and the enduring dream of a coming together." --
O, The Oprah Magazine "Englander writes the stories I am always hoping for." --Geraldine Brooks
"Moving. . . . A twisty tale of spycraft and false allegiances unfolds, but what stands out is Mr. Englander's insistence on finding romance amid the violence and deception. . . . The ageless struggle between Jews and Arabs comes to resemble a desperate lover's embrace." --
The Wall Street Journal "A literary spy thriller. . . . Englander is as wise and funny and original and moving as ever." --
Financial Times "An absolute joy to read. . . . A dark, profound meditation on the state of Israel and also a gripping thriller, full of twists and moral ambiguity." --
The Jewish Chronicle "A wistful fantasy of an impossible Israeli-Palestinian romance." --
San Francisco Chronicle "One of the best we have." --Column McCann
"A searing message about the difficulty of just action and human connection amid the pingpong match of retaliation in the Middle East." --
Newsday "[A] complicated but masterful exploration of the many contradictions of the modern State of Israel." --
Haaretz "A riveting tale." --
Austin Chronicle "Smart and intriguing." --
Library Journal "Striking. . . . A thought-provoking political thriller with some romance and cheeky humor thrown in for good measure." --
BuzzFeed "Clever, fragmented, pithy. . . . Englander is a wise observer with an empathetic heart." --
Publishers Weekly "Englander has produced a masterpiece of literary imagination that seems to mirror his own evolution." --
The Jerusalem Post