"Passenger" is a wonderfully poised novel. It rattles along at great speed without ever missing out on the telling, piquantly humorous detail. Mr. Keneally has taken on a bold range of subjects—parenthood, sexuality, psychiatry—and serves them up with a rare, Nabokovian verve that yet manages to sound the depths. His novel should be read for the sheer jeu d'esprit of it, although "Passenger" is more than fun.

Daphne Merkin, "Parents and Their Problems," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1979 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), July 8, 1979, p. 13.∗