in particular, "long division", a bolden novel by kiese laymon, has received substantial attention from the critical and literary communities. it garnered generally positive reviews from all of the "big four" advance review outlets—"kirkus", "publishers weekly", "library journal", and "booklist". additionally, literary journals such as the "los angeles review of books", "the paris review", and the "boston review" praised the novel. alyssa rosenberg of thinkprogress and "the washington post" wrote that "if laymon's novel runs into some plotting problems over the course of its run, it succeeds in doing something more emotionally moving, producing a series of crystalline moments when city comes to a clearer understanding of the world he lives in–and the kind of man he wants to be in it." novelist, professor, and social commentator roxane gay, in a piece for "the nation", called "long division" "[an] ambitious novel, and though it is raw and flawed, it is the most exciting book i've read all year. there's nothing like it, both in terms of the scope of what the book tackles and the writing's afro surrealist energy." in 2014, the novel was chosen for "the morning news" tournament of books, but was eliminated in the first round by "the goldfinch", by donna tartt in a verdict rendered by hector tobar.