The Barbarian Nurseries

A book of extraordinary scope and extraordinary power. - L A Times

Hector Tobar’s THE BARBARIAN NURSERIES is a virtuosic and hard-hitting novel about social schism in Southern California. He combines a broad and bitter social vision with exuberant attention to details. Tobar exposes disturbing and enlightening ironies about the perpetuation of both privilege and social disadvantage. - TLS

Avoiding the usual cliches, Tobar portrays his characters inner lives in nuanced detail … Tobar’s hard-hitting novel drills deep into LA’s hidden social and racial strata, and explores what happens when these carefully constructed lives implode. - Independent

Tobar’s second novel energetically explores America’s hidden seam of racial discord … His take on southern California’s complex social and ethnic strata is the strongest element of THE BARBARIAN NURSERIES … Not surprisingly he also displays an insider’s knowledge of the media. - Guardian

This is Araceli’s story, and THE BARBARIAN NURSERIES is a novel that is entirely dependent on our relationship with her. Mercifully, she makes the journey worth our while. Referred to as “Madame Weirdness” by her employers, she is as inscrutable in the workplace as she is fiery out of it. As hypnotic as she is observant and as sympathetic as she is frosty, she is a diamond of a character. - Independent on Sunday

The scope and cracking pace of Bonfire of the Vanities - Bookseller

This book is beautifully written … it provides a fascinating portrait of mutual misunderstanding, of the life led by California’s unprotected underclass, and of the American citizens who are wholly dependent on the illegal immigrants who service them. - Literary Review

The predicament of the recession-hit middle classes as they hastily rearrange their priorities has provided a rich seam for fiction writers in recent years, and Pulitzer-winning journalist Tobar’s latest is a fine example of the genre. - Daily Mail