Testimonials from weighty sources declare Mr. Reed a comic master; he himself announces his style to be "literary neohoodooism"; and I can only crustily say that I read him without a guffaw, without a laugh, without a cackle, without the shade of a smile. Packed with Mad Magazine silliness though his work is, Mr. Reed has one saving virtue: he is hopelessly good-natured. He may intend his books as a black variation of Jonathan Swift, but they emerge closer to the commercial cooings of Captain Kangaroo. (p. 141)

Irving Howe, in Harper's (copyright © by Harper's Magazine; all rights reserved; excerpted from the December, 1969 issue by special permission), December, 1969.