The Mayor's Tongue

I read TheMayor's Tongue with ever-increasing delight, rooting with all my heart for the young protagonist on his near-mythic quest. This is an elegantly-structured, brilliantly-told novel, by turns terrifying, touching, and wildly funny, and always generous and magical... a brave book, a novel brimming with brio. * Stephen King *
Playfully postmodern but eminently readable. This is a novel with a big brain and a cheeky wink by an author who could well become one of the defining writers of his generation * The Sunday Telegraph *
The Mayor's Tongue reminds me of Peter Carey's early work- the highest possible praise. It presents a young writer of deep ambition and imagination working with a kind of unnerving maturity. * Colum McCann *
Ambitious, intelligent, hallucinatory, and, most importantly: heartfelt. Here is a young writer who is not afraid to give literature a kick in the pants * Gary Shteyngart *
Rich invites absolute trust in his postmodern jousting with the reality-busting potential of storytelling -- Claire Allfree * Metro *
The book is original and wildly ambitious... his (Rich) inventiveness is joyous -- Catherine Taylor * The Guardian *
If ambition alone wins prizes, Nathaniel Rich's mantelpiece should be creaking by the end of the year -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *
Rich's novel reads a little like a hybrid of The New York Trilogy and Up the Faraway Tree, with frequent appearances of wood sprites and other forest-dwelling creatures. The fantasy element develops throughout and Rich is at his most successful in the throes of it, building towards his mad denouement. Like with many debuts, there is a little too much going on, but it is original and intelligent, and Rich is an elegant writer with a great deal of promise. He is definitely one to watch -- Francesca Segal * The Observer *
Hugely inventive and playful debut * Esquire *
Imaginatively folkloric...the experience of sharing in its feverish tussling with ideas is consistently exuberant * The Los Angeles Times Book Review *