SOURCE: Dirda, Michael. Review of The Devil's Larder, by Jim Crace. Book World—The Washington Post (21 October 2001): T15.

In the following review, Dirda finds the stories in The Devil's Larder to be over-refined and unsatisfying.

Jim Crace may not be as well known as Martin Amis or A. S. Byatt, but he is one of Britain's most original and admired writers. His novel Quarantine—about Christ in the desert—was honored as the Whitbread Novel of the Year (1997); Being Dead—which reviews a couple's past life after they have been murdered and their bodies lie decomposing—received the National Book Critics Circle's award (2000). Apparently Crace has always enjoyed narrative challenges: In his first book, Continent (1986), he invented an entirely new geographical region, along with its customs and culture. More impishly, he frequently quotes from plausible, but imaginary, ancient sages (e.g., Mondazy) and occasionally drops in a word...