The book was received positively by critics, with The Observer calling it "a stunning portrait of a dead man seeking absolution."[2]
The London Book of Reviews was more measured recognizing "Roth’s writing in the novels of the past decade has been distinguished by a powerfully propulsive energy. Reading Roth, when he is in the groove, is exhilarating because of the way one feels caught up in the swing and drive of the prose as it sweeps forward into the future of the text." Specifically of Everyman though, they recognize "that none of the suffering and death in it is singular enough to move us, perhaps because Roth has wanted, out of respect for his subject-matter, to lay art and laughter to one side."[3]
