"Our strongest writer . . . the most stubbornly imaginative."--John Irving

"A gem . . . a mature, imaginative novel--possibly the best he has written . . . Jailbird is a guided tour de force of America. Take it!"--Playboy

"A profoundly humane comedy . . . Jailbird definitely mounts up on angelic wings--in its speed, in its sparkle, and in its high-flying intent."--Chicago Tribune Book World

"Joyously inventive . . . gleams with the loony magic Vonnegut alone can achieve."--Cosmopolitan

"Vonnegut is our great apocalyptic writer, the closest thing we've had to a prophet since . . . Lenny Bruce."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Vonnegut at his impressive best. . . . His imaginative leaps alone . . . are worth the price of admission. . . . His far-reaching metaphysical and cultural concerns . . . are ultimately serious and worth our contemplation."--The Washington Post

"Vintage Vonnegut!"--Time

"Is it entertaining? Every page of it. . . . Easily his best work of fictions since Slaughterhouse-Five."--New York Daily News

"Life, in Vonnegut's eyes, is as chaotic as ever . . . but Jailbird emanates serene control."--The Atlantic Monthly

"At his best . . . Vonnegut in very good form, tart, wry, often very funny."--New York Post