[transcribed from the back cover] ‘A compassionate and convincing portrait not only of a savage individual but of the casually brutal human wilderness in which Billy was both villain and victim. Ondaatje’s techniques of many-dimensioned collage and flash-back are sharply conceived ad brilliantly carried through. He creates the near-madness of Billy and his companions, the paranoia of the guardians of law and order, and the crazy instability of one era of the American Dream.’