"An important and frequently surprising book… could be read as the foundation for a post-avant-garde aesthetics… Nelson, who is also a poet, is such a graceful writer that I…just sat back and enjoyed the show."
- Laura Kipnis - New York Times Book Review,
"[Nelson’s] critiques of individual artists are delightfully fierce without being mean spirited… Fascinating and bracingly intelligent…<em>The Art of Cruelty</em>’s prose is often gorgeous."
- Troy Jollimore - Boston Globe,
"A lean-forward experience, and in its most transcendent moments, reading it can feel like having the best conversation of your life."
- Rachel Syme - NPR Books,
"I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read [<em>The Art of Cruelty</em>]."
- Susie Linfield - New Republic,
"[Nelson] dexterously, and creatively, manages to hold a mirror to our culture’s fascination with cruelty and invites us to reflect on our personal reasons for indulging it."
- Eleni Theodoropoulos - Literary Hub,