James Booth has written a literary biography which is both elegant and moving, conveying the shape of a life - and a love-life - as sensitively as he conveys the shape of the poetic oeuvre ... At the core of the book is the poetry, which Booth analyses in a reader-friendly manner, without verbosity but with passion and precision. He provides new perspectives on the early novels and poems, and explores the symbolist dimension which is so essential for an understanding of Larkin - and there's a particularly fine-tuned discussion of the poet's more controversial views in the chapter on Jazz, Race and Modernism ... This is the first biography which, one feels, Larkin might have admitted to reading - and, even more unwillingly, enjoying * Carol Rumens *
Illuminating ... Booth provides new material drawn from interviews with the various women involved, all of whom are cited in support of the view that Larkin the man has been maligned ... For Larkin fans James Booth's book should be a satisfactory detailed understanding of familiar story told with wholehearted admiration and scholarly command * Literary Review *
For all the shakiness of his efforts to explain away Larkin's private transgressions, his book is much more enjoyable than Motion's **** * Daily Telegraph *
Nobody could tease out more meanings from a Larkin line than he ... Booth usefully highlights Larkin's graveyard humour, his passion for jazz, his capacity to surprise people with kindness, and his tireless poetic search to define something hidden from us * Sunday Times *
He provides a detailed picture of Larkin in post, especially in his dealings with mostly female staff * Independent *
Superb ... Booth's psychology is subtler than Motion's and more convincing. His achievement is to paint a satisfying and believably complex picture ... Compelling and makes clear how unmistakeably Larkin belongs among the greats * Peter J. Conradi, Spectator *
Fine-grained, thoughtful ... This biography is full of such wise textual analysis, and for that it should be read * Erica Wagner, New Statesman *
Booth is, quite simply, the ultimate Larkin enthusiast ... Booth is absolutely excellent on the work ... To read this book through, turning back to the poems in sequence, is to appreciate Larkin's development more intimately than has been possible before * Evening Standard *
Booth's diligence is unquestionable and even readers who think they know the poems will see nuances they had previously missed ... Booth's supplement to Andrew Motion's biography - the light to his shadow - should render further attention by biographers superfluous for several years * Guardian *
Engrossing and, at least some of the way, a persuasive account ... Booth also unearths new evidence to establish that Larkin was, to all who dealt with him during his three decades as a librarian, a likeable colleague and a fair boss ... he is excellent on the poetry which is ... the testimony that really matters * The Times *
Challenging the myth that Larkin was a miserable misogynist, drawing on testimony from women friends, university contemporaries and previously unseen letters to reveal him as delightful company in person as well as on the page * Daily Telegraph *
Highly sympathetic biography of Britain's favourite poet * Sunday Times Must Reads *
Booth's achievement isn't just to make us think more fondly of Larkin as a man - it's to send us rushing back to his poems, and to love them anew **** * Mail on Sunday *
A warm portrait * Daily Telegraph *
His examination of the poems is exemplary, always intelligent and free of jargon, and the manner in which he relates them to Larkin's life will enhance many readers' appreciation of the poetry and deepen their enjoyment ... This is a very good biography, both judicious and generous * Scotsman *
Booth's attempt to understand Larkin through his interaction with others is inspired * Sunday Telegraph *
Nails the poetry ... Booth is certainly less sententious than Motion; he leans towards understanding rather than judgment, which seems to me to be the bigger part of the biographer's job * Observer *
Lively and entertaining ... As a literary biography, Booth's book is much closer to the work than Motion's was, and draws on a knowledge of first-hand and archive sources unlikely to be matched by any future biographer * Irish Times *
Thank you, James Booth ... Booth, a long-time colleague, has done an impressive job in his book ... If Booth finally succeeds in correcting the view of Larkin and reminding us of the glories of the poetry, he will have done us all a service. And old Philip, too * Herald *
Booth takes a more human and measured, less judgemental, approach to the contradictions in Larkin's personality than Motion did ... Compelling * Yorkshire Post *
Booth is more attentive to the personalities of the women themselves and proposes a persuasive counter-argument * Oldie *
Booth is probably more familiar with the poet's archive than anyone else alive * Times Literary Supplement *
Booth is an excellent guide to just why a Larkin poem can merit being called great ... Booth has not written an academic book. He has written a book of the higher journalism, which is still the kind of attention Larkin needs * Clive James, New York Times *
Booth, for 17 years a colleague of Larkin's at Hull University, must be congratulated for restoring some balance and warmth [to Larkin] * Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph Biographies of the Year *
Sets out to rescue Larkin from pantomime-villainy with this sensitive and readable life * Sunday Times Literary Non-fiction of the Year *
James Booth's Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love goes a long way to helping us understand the man better, as well as the problems he wrote * Richard Holloway, Herald Books of the Year *
A persuasive attempt to rescue the English poet' and his work from recent biographic exposes of his racism and misogyny * Guardian *
Booth does a valiant job in persuading us that Larkin was more sensitive, kinder and wittier than his detractors would have it. Anyhow, if nothing else, it reminds us how bittersweet and sensitive his poetry was * Robbie Millen, The Times Biographies of the Year *
The words of his late poem, Aubade, are a bleak reminder of the dread/Of dying, and being dead which he felt so keenly, and yet here, through biography, he lives on * Marcus Field, Independent Biographies of the Year *
A readable, engaging life of a man who wrote poetry like a great defensive batsman. It creates a vivid sense of how Larkin's life and his art could exist in the mind of an energetic enthusiast * Sydney Morning Herald *
This meticulously researched volume offers the first balanced account of this singularly odd poet's quite but complicated life * Commentary Magazine *
A good, necessary book * Peter Lewis, Daily Mail Biographies of the Year *
A readable, engaging life of a man who wrote poetry like a great defensive batsman. It creates a vivid sense of how Larkin's life and his art could exist in the mind of an energetic enthusiast * Sydney Morning Herald *
