SOURCE: Bromwich, David. “A Regular Joe.” New Republic 196, no. 23 (8 June 1987): 45-8.

In the following review, Bromwich describes Epstein as an “easy-chair” essayist and outlines the defining characteristics of the pieces included in Once More Around the Block.

If only the author liked himself a good deal less, these essays [in Once More Around the Block] would be likable enough. But he won't wait for your approval, and gives it himself by proxy: “Among the assets I tote up as my own: a wife I adore, work that keeps me perpetually interested, good friends, good health, and (thus far along) supreme good luck.” That, in an essay on why he likes where he lives. In another, on secondhand books, he finds a moment to recall: “I like what I do at present.” (Don't expect him to open a secondhand-book shop.) “Not,” he adds in an essay on superior athletes...