Since she published her first novel in 1966, Cynthia Ozick has garnered substantial critical acclaim for both her fiction and her essays. Many critics acknowledge that she is a gifted writer, and one of the most important voices in contemporary literature. John Sutherland, in the October 8, 2000, New York Times Book Review, calls her "the most accomplished and graceful literary stylist of our time."

Some critics believe, however, that Ozick's penchant for displaying her own prowess with words interferes with her message. Accusing her of "Parading her erudition like a peacock," Ilan Stavans, in the July 16, 1999 issue of Times Literary Supplement, notes that while Ozick's words are meticulously chosen, "their splendour can also get in her way, obstructing the plot, making it morose, dispensable." Bruce Bawer, in the Wall Street Journal, also mentions that Ozick can be "too preoccupied with intellectual matters for [her] own good,—or, to...