Dirt Road is brilliant . . . a deeply moving and exciting novel -- RODDY DOYLE
Kelman in the American South, with a zydeco lilt, proves irresistible - a thrilling return from one of our most essential novelists -- KEVIN BARRY
In writing as pure as this, language becomes the very bones and meat of the characters. I am not transported by these sentences into Murdo's world; I am Murdo -- ROSS RAISIN
Strange and beautiful . . . Kelman gives us visceral vernacular, Joycean stream of consciousness, wry humor, old resentments and painful memories, all in counterpoint to the music on and off stage . . . A celebration of what it is to be human * * Spectator * *
Beautiful. Dirt Road is about coming of age, grief and the folk music of the American deep south * * Daily Telegraph * *
Draws you like a magnet * * Herald Scotland * *
In Dirt Road James Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can -- ALAN WARNER
Another masterpiece from one of our best writers -- KIRSTY GUNN * * Guardian * *
A true original . . . A real artist -- IRVINE WELSH * * Guardian * *
A delight . . . The best thing [Kelman] has written -- ALLAN MASSIE * * Scotsman * *
Probably the most influential novelist of the post-war period * * The Times * *
The greatest British novelist of our time * * Sunday Herald * *
A writer of world stature, a 21st century Modern * * Scotsman * *
The greatest living British novelist * * Amit Chaudhuri * *
To call him a great Scottish writer would be accurate; to call him simply a great writer would be more concise * * Herald * *
One of the most influential writers of his generation * * Guardian * *
A beautifully-coloured account of loss and love . . . Like a camera on Murdo's shoulder, we see the world as the boy sees it, sensing the miracle of his emergence as a confident young man * * The Times * *
Beautiful and musical -- Nick Major * * The National * *
Poignant and beautiful * * Independent * *
Quietly, subtly Kelman peels back the veil of daily life to reveal the urgent struggle of a sixteen-year-old coming to terms with death. This is a brilliant book, and like all great works of art, it is universal-whether you're reading it in Scotland, Hampstead, or Alabama * * Times Literary Supplement * *
Dirt Road is a life-affirming novel, in which Kelman paints a convincing and at times moving portrait of two likable characters on the road to fulfillment and recovery * * Observer * *
