Much of the appeal of T. Coraghessan Boyle's novels and stories is in his creation of outrageous characters, bizarre situations, and deliberately inflated comparisons. Hip, erudite, and audacious, his fiction is widely praised for its black comedy, incon...

Since 1979 T. Coraghessan Boyle has wondered, sometimes with a strong hint of the irony that pervades most of his fiction, why he has not become as popular a writer as John Irving, John Updike, or even Stephen King. Critics and readers have praised his s...

Known for his blend of black humor and slightly off-kilter characters, T. Coraghessan Boyle has garnered a reputation for inserting verbal pyrotechnics and a bizarre mix of subjects in his novels and story collections. Boyle finds humor and pathos in sub...

In the following review of The Road to Wellville, Seligman surveys Boyle's career, contending that the novelist's "pyrotechnical exhibitionism" fails to conceal the "black-hearted fatalism" that ultimately renders all his works simplistic.

Smiley is an American educator, novelist, short story writer, nonfiction writer, and critic. In the review below, she discusses The Road to Wellville, focusing on Boyle's characterization as she compares the novel to Boyle's previous works.

Cohen is an American educator, novelist, and short story writer. In the following review, he maintains that, despite Boyle's prodigious comedic gifts, The Road to Wellville proves too shallow and crude to sustain interest.