Winter in the Blood received attention and critical acclaim from literary critics and scholars. Louise Erdrich's introduction to Winter in the Blood called the novel a "work of slim majesty, lean, rich, funny, and grim" [2] and a "quiet American masterwork."[2] In a New York Times book review, novelist Reynolds Price described the novel as a "nearly flawless novel about human life. To say less is to patronize its complex knowledge, the amplitude of its means, and its clear lean voice."[3] In 1977, a panel at the Modern Language Association Convention discussed the novel, analyzing Welch's “episodic” narration in particular.[16] Following the literary studies convention in 1978, a Special Symposium Issue on Welch's novel commenced, producing over twenty reviews and journals.[17] In 2003, retired University of Montana literature professor William "Bill" Bevis described the book as an "unflinching look at life on a Montana reservation," [18] written so brilliantly "in [terms of] technique that it really took Native American writing to a new level" [18] with "poetic and the [that] images were so exact...a great combination of poetic technique and hard realism."[18]
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