The decision to bring [together the various texts selected for Le Coq de bruyère] was a seriously mistaken one; linked together as a book, they raise a very grave issue: does Michel Tournier himself have the conceptual coherence to convince a reader that the world has points of cohesion and interlinkings which bind its disparate phenomena into a perceptible whole? And one is tempted to reply that Tournier, despite his great gifts and some admirable and durable achievements, is moving closer and closer towards turning his mind into a fun-house where he manipulates those jets of air which amuse some and scandalize others and which, unfortunately, are not to be taken very seriously.

Joseph H. McMahon, "Textbooks and Methodology: 'Le coq de bruyère'," in The French Review (copyright 1979 by the American Association of Teachers of French), Vol. 52, No. 5, April, 1979, p. 801.