In the 1970s, Tom McHale established himself as one of the most promising American novelists of his generation. In little more than a decade, he produced a half-dozen novels that were widely reviewed. Most of those reviews were enthusiastically – sometimes wildly – positive. But even those reviewers who were more guarded in their responses to the individual novels acknowledged the originality of McHale's darkly comic vision, the engaging energy of his style, and the evidence of a considerable talent in his growing body of work. Reviewers compared his novels to those of Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., John Updike, Philip Roth, and Bruce Jay Friedman. In 1972, McHale's second novel,
Farragan's Retreat, was named a finalist for the National Book Award, and two years later McHale was…
1150 words
Citation: Kich, Martin. "Tom McHale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5402, accessed 03 December 2024.]
