[3][4] Chris Lehmann of Salon praised its relevance, calling Saunders a "master of distilling the disorders of our time into fiction.

"[5] Lynne Tillman of The New York Times argued the stories "cover larger, more exciting territory" than Saunders' previous works, "with an abundance of ideas, meanings and psychological nuance.

[7][8] Iranian-American novelist and essayist Porochista Khakpour cited the "seamless coexistence of high and low" in the book's prose.

[9] A writer for Nylon argued the book's deadpan delivery and "satiric vision of contemporary America [secures Saunders'] place" as a successor to 20th century literary realists such as Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut.

[10] In 2007, Entertainment Weekly ranked the book #63 on its list of the top 100 works of literature since 1983.