SOURCE: "Snap, Crackle, Pop in Battle Creek," in The New York Times Book Review, April 25, 1993, pp. 1, 28.

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.

Throughout his career, T. Coraghessan Boyle has shown a special affinity for dirt and a special relish for depicting the feckless self-absorption of the post-war generation. In his early story "Bloodfall," seven commune dwellers who wear only white are subjected to a rain of blood, then feces, but their response is to nestle more closely together and go back to sleep. In his last novel, East Is East, the members of the Jeffcoat family, as replete with naivete as they are with all the most modern camping conveniences, set out for a week in the Okefenokee...