"One of the greatest achievements of modern literature."--Richard Howard "A major achievement ... Genet transforms experiences of degradation into spiritual exercises and hoodlums into bearers of the majesty of love."-Saturday Review "Genet can use a brutal phraseology that makes prison life specific and immediate. Yet through his singular sensibility, these elements are transmuted into something fragile, rare, beautiful."-The New York Times "This book recreates for the reader Genet's magic world, one of dazzling beauty charged with novelty and excitement."-Bettina Knapp "Genet would have deserved international standing for this novel alone ... He succeeds to an amazing degree in creating poetry from the profoundest degradation."-The Times (London).