Breaking and Entering (Williams novel)

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Breaking and Entering
First edition
AuthorJoy Williams
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherVintage Books
Publication date
1988
Pages288

Breaking and Entering is a 1988 novel by American writer Joy Williams.

Publication[edit]

The novel was published a decade after Williams' second novel, The Changeling. This gap occurred in part because of a negative review Williams received from The New York Times critic Anatole Broyard for her novel The Changeling.[1]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

The novel received positive reviews at the time of publication,[2] and has continued to receive praise in the following decades.[3]

American author Paul Lisicky has said he "fell in love" with the book while attending graduate school and that it influenced his own novel, Lawnboy.[4]

Academic interpretation[edit]

Zoltán Abádi-Nagy, writing in the Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, grouped the novel with works by other American "minimalist" authors. These include Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City, and Bret Easton Ellis' novel Less than Zero.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kois, Dan (2 September 2015). "The Misanthropic Genius of Joy Williams (Published 2015)". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  2. ^ Taylor, Pat Ellis (3 January 1989). "Book Review : A Dark Look at Life on the Home Front". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  3. ^ Boggs, Belle (9 April 2019). "The Joys of Breaking and Entering". The Paris Review. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  4. ^ Ripatrazone, Nick (17 March 2020). "The Vitality of Opposing Energies: The Millions Interviews Paul Lisicky". The Millions. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  5. ^ Abádi-Nagy, Zoltán (1995). "Plot vs. Secondary Narrative Structure In Contemporary American Minimalist Fiction". Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. 1 (1): 143–151. Retrieved 16 January 2021.