“Mr Desmond tries to crowd all the modern forces into his conflict, and frequently neutralizes his effects by the nicety with which one violence is banged against another. His picture of London life, in its meannesses and poverty, has touches of Dickens, and touches, also, of the Dickens sentimentality. His purposes grow weak through sheer over-analysis.” L. B.
− + Freeman 1:526 Ag 11 ’20 180w
“We know of no exacter study of childhood and adolescence nor of any less steeped in traditional idealisms. Young Tempest at home and at school is immensely genuine and instructive. After that the fine veracity of the book breaks down.”
+ Nation 110:659 My 15 ’20 300w
“The hero’s revolt against finance of the most frenzied character is plausible enough, but somehow the entire latter half of the book fails to carry very much conviction. One feels that Mr Desmond is not devoid of the divine fire, but he needs a better boiler under which to build it.”
+ − N Y Times 25:252 My 16 ’20 600w
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
Review 2:573 My 29 ’20 600w
“The most accurate description that can be applied to the work is that it is a vivid and startling piece of impressionism, despite its grotesqueness.”
+ − Springf’d Republican p11a S 5 ’20 150w