"A richly colorful novel," said the New York Times, but in the author's home town, the bookstore manager kept it under the counter and sold it only to those who dared ask for it. Woodstock was still four years in the future, and American students were more concerned about nuclear weapons than a war in Vietnam. But already there was something blowing in the wind, as the young Daniel Ford was among the first to document in his debut novel. "It is impossible not to keep on watching them," said The New Yorker of his heroine and his anti-heroes, and the Los Angeles Times agreed: "An effervescent eye-opener."