It is rare to read an autobiography which balances acerbic, almost visceral, anger with moments of genuine tenderness and affection.

The language crackles.

Paterson’s prose style is resolutely colloquial.

Laugh-out-loud funny.

Toy Fights is rich in characters, wonderfully detailed, often very funny.

There is something Joycean in how Paterson destabilizes the voice.

In this memoir his language is often at its most colloquial when he is being most serious, a contrast he negotiates to great effect.

Like Paterson’s poetry, Toy Fights constantly doubles back on itself and questions its ability to produce meaning.

Paterson's wizardry with language and description, and long, winding sentences make for sumptuous evocative passages that are often hilarious and a pure pleasure to read.

This memoir is gritty, direct, and alternately doggedly sincere and uproariously hilarious..

Exuberant.