One reason Deaths for the Ladies is not trivial is that here, as in his earlier books, he seems to be trying to find out how much weight his ideas (or better, his attitudes) will bear. (...) In Deaths for the Ladies he implies a criticism of society, but it remains an implication, drowned out by the author’s personal histrionics; he seems uninterested in, and even unaware of, the factual existence of the society he is criticizing: perhaps this is a reaction from his former over-politicalization, but the reaction has gone too far. (...) Too much of Deaths for the Ladies is Hemingwayesque muscle-flexing against the squares (but Hipsterism can be pretty square too); there is too much tough-stuff, too much I’ve-been-around stuff.