Michiko Kakutani
[The novel} offers the reader a representative sample of Mr. Irving's work that highlights both his weaknesses and his strengths. . . .Piggy Sneed is a small gem of writing, [but] it turns out to be less an act of reminiscence than a carefully contrived meditation on what might have happened to the dimwitted garbage collector Mr. Irving knew as a boy in Exeter, N.H., and the transformative powers of art.— The New York Times