Praise
Tabucchi's prose creates a deep, heart-wrenching nostalgia and constantly evokes the pain of recognizing the speed of life's passing which everyone knows but few have the strength to accept . . . wonderfully thought-provoking and beautiful.
— Alan Cheuse on The Flying Creatures of Far Angelico, NPR's All Things Considered
Tabucchi’s work has an almost palpable sympathy for the oppressed.
— The New York Times
One could call him a great literary defender of the oppressed and marginalized (political prisoners or revolutionaries are among his stock figures), but he does not so much defend them, in the moralistic, paternalistic sense, as allow them a voice . . . Tabucchi delights in the metatheatricality of writing: more often than not the narrators in this collection are conscious of their role as storytellers, and are writing or speaking as if to a silent companion—a position that is filled by the reader. As a result, even the tamer stories feel on the verges of reality.
— Samuel Graydon, The Times Literary Supplement
There is in Tabucchi’s stories the touch of the true magician, who astonishes us by never trying too hard for his subtle, elusive, and remarkable effects.
— San Francisco Examiner
