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Outstanding
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Kirkus Reviews
Honest to a fault, richly veined with indelible images: a monumental piece of work. [1 Apr 2005, p.410]
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly A.J. Jacobs
And yet, when you begin to think of the book as just the tale of a poor-little-richboy, there's one thing that saves it: the writing, which is vivid, detailed, deep and filled with fresh metaphors. [2 May 2005, p.184]
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Outstanding
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Houston Chronicle John Freeman
Like Dave Eggers' memoir, which it resembles without being derivative, Oh the Glory of It All is a triumph of tone over tribulation. Other young men have perhaps suffered more, but what this book does -- and does brilliantly -- is give us the illusion of being inside Wilsey's head as he experiences this family turmoil.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
It's a sprawling kitchen sink of a memoir, stuffed to the gills with seemingly everything the author can remember about his youth and in dire need of some industrial-strength editing, but at the same time, an epic performance: by turns heartfelt, absurd, self-indulgent, self-abasing, silly and genuinely moving.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Book Review Francine Prose
To write about the sufferings of the well-to-do imposes a certain set of demands on a writer, and Wilsey rises to the challenge with agility and grace.
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Favorable
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Village Voice Chris Tamarri
If the book slips at all, it's in Wilsey's willingness to cast [Dede] in the one-dimensional role of wicked stepmother.
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Favorable
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The Observer Geraldine Bedell
Wilsey's writing is so moreish and so accomplished, and the story he has to tell is so urgent and powerfully felt, that you would be very odd not to get lost in it.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Christopher Tayler
An affectionately vengeful account of life among the rich and narcissistic, enlivened by emotional honesty and lightly-done 1980s pop-culture nostalgia.
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Oscar Villalon
What Wilsey has written is an engrossing soap opera, not unlike "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest," which he mentions in comparison to his life. It's a lot more nuanced and thoughtful than those shows, but the story is essentially the same: How does one maneuver among wealthy jackals, and when does the leader of the pack get his?
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Lisa Gabriele
Ridiculously compelling.... There are a few too many details and some frustrating repetition; sometimes Wilsey's memoir is more stew than sauce, but the whole damn thing goes down easy nonetheless. [4 Jun 2005]
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese
Though it's about twice as long as it needs to be... the book soars with Wilsey's cool and damning depiction of [his stepmother].
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Mixed
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London Review Of Books Curtis Sittenfeld
The decision to use sources other than his own memory bolsters the book’s credibility; there is a good blend of the urgently personal, the brimming stew of facts and impressions, and the more clinically reported. But Wilsey has sometimes failed to make choices about what not to include – if in doubt, toss it in – and parts of this book come across as self-indulgent.
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Mixed
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Daily Telegraph Tom Payne
Admittedly, his memoir has some pleasures.
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Mixed
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Boston Globe Maud Newton
Compulsively readable... [but] it amounts to the literary equivalent of reality TV.
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Unfavorable
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Los Angeles Times Thomas Meaney
A story that squanders the author's abundant talent and the reader's patience. [21 May 2005, p.E8]
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Unfavorable
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The Guardian Patrick Gale
Pointlessly long and woefully under-edited.
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Unfavorable
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The Nation Lee Siegel
An account that is more like a spontaneous, unedited private unburdening than a real book meant to be read by other people.
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