[The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman] affords the reader all the delights of a master working at the top of his form. No literary artist working in English today is better than J. P. Donleavy, and few merit comparison with him….

This new work is an important part of a significant oeuvre. The Donleavy eye for sensual detail is sharp as ever, the ear for idiomatic dialogue still perfect. The Donleavy themes—friendship, the family, loneliness—make up in importance what they lack in fashion. The chapter ending poems are as wonderful as ever…. It is too late to be discovering that J. P. Donleavy is a very great writer, although this … book is ample proof. It would be an interesting stunt to review a Donleavy work without mentioning "The Ginger Man" because even without that book his achievement would put him in the first rank, but it...