To date, World and Town has drawn the most consistently positive critical response of Gish Jen's career. Reviewers, who cherish Jen as an often funny and engaging storyteller who creates memorable characters, praised the author for tackling the complicated theme of what lies at the tangled roots of Americanness, an ambition Jen signals with an epigram from de Tocqueville and fulfills in a "thick, satisfying sprawl of a read" (Entertainment Weekly). A few critics had minor complaints, including some digressive, albeit amusing, subplots. The critics concluded, however, that Jen handles her troubled souls and big themes with authority and that her work is at once entertaining, relevant, and thought-provoking. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.