The novel has had an extremely mixed criticial reception marked by a preponderance of negative reviews, some scathing [e.g., those by Benjamin DeMott, Joseph Epstein, some very favorable [e.g., those by Richard Poirier, Christopher Ricks].
Derided by many, it is included in the canonical listing of Harold Bloom in The Western Canon and books celebrated in Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 by Anthony Burgess.