Critical Praise

"Bennett's [sense of humor] is subtle and often wry, full of clever word play, innuendo, and decidedly British. Oh, and there are naughty bits, too.... Smut takes a grown-up and satiric look at how we play roles."

—The Boston Globe

"Bennett, the British author and dramatist best known for his play The History Boys, has something far more subversive --- even obscene --- in store. His matrons are not at all what they seem, and in pushing them toward revelation, he playfully shows us how misleading appearances can be.... Delightfully sly comedy."

—The Washington Post

"Why did Alan Bennett give the title Smut to this admittedly slight but always enjoyable and often hilarious pair of novellas?...Maybe Maybe the title is wry, rueful, ironic, nostalgic and mischievous --- all of which Smut itself turns out to be."

—The New York Times

"[A] delightfully subversive little book, which puckishly celebrates dirty little secrets as a vital component in both sex and life."

—Heller McAlpin, NPR

"Two substantial stories in one slight volume.... It’s something of a triumph that the smut in Smut is not just the incidental sooty fleck. Bennett may sprinkle double entendres and fire off the occasional Tourette-like burst of blunt common nouns, but he really does manage to startle his supposedly unshockable modern readers with each story’s very premise, slowly revealed and, yes, smutty."

—Thomas Mallon, The New York Times Book Review