Praise for The Swallowed Man
âArt objects live in the belly of this marvellous novel, images swallowed by text, sustained by a sublime and loving imagination. Like all Edward Careyâs work The Swallowed Man is profound and delightful. It is a strange and tender parable of two maddening obsessions; parenting and art-makingâÂ
Max Porter, author of Lanny
âGepetto, carver of naughty Pinocchio, keeps a haunting journal of his years inside the whale⌠Bizarre, moving, intensely oddâ
Margaret Atwood
âA marvellous feat of storytelling that dives deep into the madness accompanying solitude and creativityâÂ
Daily Mail
âHaunting. Geppettoâs voice, full of wistful overemphases and bewildered revelation, is absorbing as he takes in the oddity of his situation. And the book, sentence by sentence, offers much in which to luxuriateâÂ
Sunday Times
âA tale with plenty to say about prickly father-son relationships and the responsibility that comes with creationâ
 Mail on Sunday
âInspired. . . . a riff on the entwined themes of fatherhood and creative sparkâ
New York Times Book Review
âThe Swallowed Man stands out among Careyâs other works. . . . an existential fairy tale for adults told by an old artist considering the tragedy of lifeâÂ
The Washington Post
âWhen I say that this is a beautiful book, I mean that literallyÂâ the language as well as the art. . . . A spectacular experienceâ
Bill Goldstein, NBC
âDeep and grimly whimsical'Â
Kirkus Reviews
âA re-imagining of Pinocchio, told from the viewpoint of the beast-entrapped Geppetto, it surprise and delights, and saddens and gladdens, from start to finish'
The Big Issue
'The Swallowed Man is a book unlike any other that I have read for many a long year. That is recommendation enough. Added to which it is written with fluent economy, poetic clarity and imaginative daring. What a high note on which to end this year of too many lowsâÂ
The Herald
âStrange and lovelyâÂ
Rhik Samadder
âA thing of physical beauty⌠The Swallowed Man can be read as an extended metaphor about the power of art. Or perhaps itâs just a strange and hypnotic story about a man stuck inside a fishâÂ
The Times
âWhimsical and macabreâ
Strong Words Magazine
âRichly descriptive and abundantly playful . . . [an] endearing meditation on creation and its power, conveying how much the act adds to our existenceâÂ
Austin Chronicle
âA beautiful and dark meditation on fatherhood, mercy, redemption and the alchemy of isolation. Strange, moving and musical, itâs a delightâÂ
A. L. Kennedy
âJust magical â itâs that time of year, this is a perfect Christmas present for the person in the family who likes an original readâÂ
NB Magazine
âThereâs plenty of mischief here and itâs a delight to readâÂ
Voice Magazine
âA magical meditation on fatherly love, loss and regret, and the transformative power of creative artâ
Bookanista
