In the following excerpt, Davis describes Green's novel as a dream, a prose poem, and a transcendental novel.

The Dead of the House is less a novel than a kind of dream, a protracted prose poem of singular delicacy, filled with generosity, love, and wisdom, and steeped in lore__ [It] is a deeply felt, uniquely American fiction....

How strange it is to come upon a transcendental novel in the last third of the 20th century. Like most works of fiction, it is about life as it is lived on earth; unlike so many, it has something of importance to say on the subject, with a touch that is as light and dry as a blown leaf or the touch of an old man's hand. It is a book to make its readers feel fortunate.

Source: L J. Davis, "An Accumulation of Time Past," in Book World—Washington...