Caryn James of The New York Times hailed the novel as "studied yet appealing commercial hit", adding that it "belongs to a distinct subgenre: the accessible book that flatters readers with its intellectual veneer".

Under her honeyed Southern accent and her intellectual veneer, she is a bimbo with brains, a species that exists only in a cartoon world.

"Art" belongs to a tradition that once flourished on Broadway but is seldom represented there these days: the sleek, pleasant comedy of manners with an intellectual veneer that allows audiences to relax at the theater without feeling they're wasting time.

The large, loud, tough-talking Robertson has none of Soros' intellectual veneer or social graces; he might have been deliberately cast to play the role of Ugly American.

Similarly, the play itself belongs to an older tradition that once flourished on Broadway: the sleek, pleasant comedy of manners with an intellectual veneer that allows audiences to relax at the theater without feeling they're wasting time.