In a mixed review, Tom Scanlon of the Peninsula Times Tribune wrote, "Forced Entries, with its short, terse chapters, is good reading, for the most part.
[1] The New York Times critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt said, "Despite the maturing voice of Forced Entries, the two diaries remain similar in their quest for extreme sensations and their eagerness to shock the reader.
"[3] In the San Francisco Examiner, Peter Delacorte wrote, "And for the next 30 pages the book is incessantly boring, because Carroll is a fish out of water.
In its meandering way, the book has been leading to this: the rite of purification, the great battle against the "small pink simian" that holds Carroll captive.
"[4] The Boston Globe's Joseph Menn stated, "Forced Entries records Carroll's 'obscure rite of passage' as he turned his knowledge of sophisticated, vacuous New York scene-making into personal, life-saving wisdom.