Praise for In the Shadow of King Saul
"Accessible and brimming with erudition. . . . Charyn writes with passionate precision about writers, films and filmmakers, about New York's marginalized classes, and all manner of cultural icons. . . . [He] deftly blends the stories of his own life with the stories of those whose ordeals, failures, and victories hold special meaning for him as symptomatic of the American experience. . . . Wherever he takes us, Charyn's mind is always agile, and his prose is stunningly electric." —Jewish Book Council
"Powerful. . . . Charyn composes an autobiography of essays, sharing lessons learned from a lifetime of love for leading ladies, literature and language." —Shelf Awareness for Readers
"Lively essays. . . . A very personal view of the past artfully brought to vivid life." —Kirkus Reviews
"Deeply personal. . . . Readers will delight in encountering Charyn's New York City. . . . From his ruminations on seeing classic studio-era films during his South Bronx childhood in the 1940s and '50s to an account of a day spent with Mayor Ed Koch in the mid-'80s, Charyn's prose enchants. . . . Longtime fans and those new to Charyn's work alike will enjoy this distinctive glimpse into one author’s influences." —Publishers Weekly
"A valuable collection, both an effective primer for readers new to Charyn's work and an intriguing read for those already familiar, showing off his skills as a memoirist and a culture writer in equal measure." —Foreword Reviews
"[Charyn] is a writer of great passion, lyric and empathy. . . . These essays flow from the page with realism and from an author who knows the truth." —North of Oxford
"In [Charyn's] enchanting writing, the glory is in the details." —Comics Grinder
"With his customary linguistic verve and pulsing imagination, Charyn serves up here some of the tastiest essay writing available. He knows and loves New York past and present, and he draws on a lifetime of raucous experience and dedicated reading for a rich, heady, satisfying brew." —Phillip Lopate
Select Praise for Jerome Charyn
"Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature." —Michael Chabon
"One of our finest writers. . . . Whatever milieu [Charyn] chooses to inhabit, . . . his sentences are pure vernacular music, his voice unmistakable." —Jonathan Lethem
"Charyn, like Nabokov, is that most fiendish sort of writer, so seductive as to beg imitation, so singular as to make imitation impossible." —Tom Bissell
"Among Charyn's writerly gifts is a dazzling energy. . . . [He is] an exuberant chronicler of the mythos of American life." —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books
"Charyn skillfully breathes life into historical icons." —New Yorker
"Both a serious writer and an immensely approachable one, always witty and readable." —Washington Post
"Absolutely unique among American writers." —Los Angeles Times
"A contemporary American Balzac." —Newsday
