Full of energy and blistering rationality, but generosity, too. This might be Despentes' wittiest and wisest novel yet.
- Lisa McInerney,
Brilliant - funny, wise and completely addictive - a work of angry, outrageous and hilarious genius.
- Victoria Hislop,
Highly entertaining . . . subtle and complex
Guardian
A book that shows Despentes at her very best: incisive, intelligent and fearless. There is justifiable anger at the heart of <i>Dear Dickhead</i>, but it's a clear-eyed and channelled anger
New European
This is what makes Despentes and her characters so appealing: they act as if they have nothing to lose yet it's clear they do . . . At 55, she is still lancing the patriarchy, and her writing remains highly acute. But it has become more sober, patient and full of emotional suspense
Financial Times
Despentes pulls it off with a brio that's wholly characteristic . . . the energy of [her] voice kept me on her side, and rooting for Oscar, Rebecca and Zoé as they navigated their lives with varying degrees of failure, distress and, occasionally, hope
Telegraph
A must-read...While waiting for society to evolve, Virginie Despentes stays the same
Vogue
Virginie Despentes writes with a harpoon...A queer Castor. A grunge Jane Austen. A punk Pythia. A bacchante rebelling against the patriarchal order
Causeur
This is the paradox and, perhaps, the power of Virginie Despentes: to be seen as both a radical and mainstream, divisive and agreeable, raging and benevolent
L'Obs
She can capture all that makes up an era in a way nobody else can
Les Inrockuptibles
She is a flower in the asphalt and the queen of her time
En attendant Nadeau
<b>Wry, intelligent, often laugh-out-loud funny - definitely not one to miss.</b>
Marie Claire
<b>An excellent read</b>. The writing in<i> Dear Dickhead</i> is <b>electric, explosive, mad, beautiful, and exhilarating</b>. Nothing is sacred, life is rude and ugly and all is potentially beautiful.
Morning Star