Los Angeles Review of Books: “D. Foy’s latest novel, Absolutely Golden, is a great time—although maybe not for some of its characters. It takes a sharp turn from the gritty textures and subjects of his previous novels, Made to Break and Patricide, while retaining their tonal dexterity. Set in the early 1970s, Absolutely Golden takes place almost entirely at a nudist colony, where drugs and gnarly sunburns abound. The effervescent prose keeps the novel feeling crisp and clean, as we watch its characters struggle, fail, and eventually awaken from despair. In the end, Absolutely Golden is a novel about transformation.”

The Brooklyn Rail: “Absolutely Golden is a novel of conflicting mythologies and contradictory personas, of classical music colliding with bebop, of suburban comfort mingling with ‘60s counterculture—a nonjudgmental lunge for ecstasy and enlightenment across a landscape of shish kabobs, mind-altering drugs, fondue parties, and copious amounts of asscrack . . . It’s a breathlessly rendered work, delirious, like a wild rush through a meadow or a ride on a runaway carousel.”

BOMB: “A ticklish breeze of a novel, funny and revelatory, Absolutely Golden is a spin on the divide between youth and maturity, purity and experience, put-on and genuine self-expression. It moves from insidious darkness to unabashed uplift, a decided change of tack from Foy’s tonally bleaker first two books, Made to Break and Patricide. Foy, a signature prose stylist, has published his fizziest novel to date.”

Fanzine: “After two dark, crushing novels, Foy stretches toward the light with the story of a repressed, anxious widow who finds herself in a nudist colony. The prose [in Absolutely Golden] is distinctly Foy’s, wicked and sharp, but the story is unlike anything he’s tackled before.”

Vol. 1 Brooklyn: “Absolutely Golden is a complete joy, hilarious and affecting… It has everything: intrigue, recovery, carnival atmosphere, a naked jazz band, and tons of gags. D. Foy continues to showcase his virtuosity of tone and voice, and you’ll be laughing on the train, as people around you try to figure out the cover’s prominent cleavage. This one’s for acolytes and for long-standing fans.”

PANK: Funny, satirical, smart, and packed with snappy dialogue and characters that are at once cartoonish and too real, this is a book that, much like Patricide did last year, proves that Foy is one of the best in the business and perhaps one of the most electric voices in contemporary literary fiction.

Heavy Feather Review: “D. Foy’s first two novels are not light, to say the least. Made to Break and Patricide tackle dysfunctional friendships, betrayal, dysfunctional families, abusive fathers, pre-teen drug use, violence, death, depression, and more violence. Both received rave reviews and rocketed Foy into indie-darling status, a position he deserves on the strength of his prose alone. Set in a nudist camp in 1973 Northern California and featuring a female first-person narrator, Absolutely Golden is actually light-hearted fare, but certainly lacks no depth.”

CLASH: “An awakening happens throughout Absolutely Golden, a sort of self-reflection from the inside that eventually moves outward. The hedonistic atmosphere is full of twists and turns that come upon the protagonist seemingly by accident, but in hindsight are far from a coincidence . . . D. Foy is a literary guru who will enlighten you, and make you feel whole with the universe. He will make you laugh, cry, and reflect on your journey through life’s ups and downs.”

The Big Smoke America: “Reading Absolutely Golden was like [listening to] an impromptu jazz performance . . . D. Foy take[s] a preexisting form and create[s] something new . . . I kept thinking about the Beat movement and how Kerouac and Burroughs were able to tell a story by tying it into a pretzel, but in the end give the reader something poignant.”