However, some commentators have been more critical. In reviewing the "disappointing" novel for "Commonweal" (September 20, 1968), William James Smith chastised Momaday for his mannered style: "writes in a lyric vein that borrows heavily from some of the slacker rhythms of the King James Bible ... It makes you itch for a blue pencil to knock out all the intensified words that maintain the flow" [link added. Other critics said it was nothing but "an interesting variation of the old alienation theme"; "a social statement rather than ... a substantial artistic achievement"; "a memorable failure," "a reflection, not a novel in the comprehensive sense of the word" with "awkward dialogue and affected description"; "a batch of dazzling fragments".