How to Paint a Dead Man

Tour de force in many ways...breathtakingly clever. Then there's the characterisation which is both bright and deep: each of the characters is distinct, believable, complex, flawed and human... but the best reason for loving this novel is the poetic quality of the prose... [it] was longlisted for the 2009 Man Booker prize. Why on earth wasn't it shortlisted?

Beautifully realised... the split narratives and time jumps demand concetration, but it's worth it. Meditations on art glue everything together, and Hall's prose is raw, surprising and often quite magnificent.

Her most satisfying [novel] so far... Hall's use of language is remarkably rich and intense. She adds layer upon layer like paint... How to Paint A Dead Man is that rare thing, a novel that feels too brief, too controlled. These stories could easily have uncoiled over further pages without feeling overlaboured.

Paperback of the Week

Memorable novel... Hall skilfully avoids a conventional narrative structure in favour of impressionistic tableaux, her brush strokes delicately adding layer upon layer to her characters.