A blackly comedic fable...At its best Dot in the Universe reads like [Larry] David, Tracey Ullman and Will Self channeling Jonathan Swift; by turns scathing, self-pitying and operatic, the novel manages to be manic, nutty and Rabelaisian all at the same time...held together not only by an ingenious plot and cleverly interwoven motifs but also by the author's distinctive, choleric and thoroughly unstoppable voice.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

A filthy, hilarious, and absolutely furious little novel.

Entertainment Weekly

Lucy Ellmann understands that the best way to dramatize cosmic absurdity is the way one responds to any other joke: with unrestrained laughter...It's the sort of wry and bitterly compassionate novel that today's writers REALLY should be producing A WHOLE LOT MORE OF.

Washington Post

Ellmann is better than just clever. She is a genuinely (if sneakily) humane novelist.

Claire Dederer, New York Times Book Review