Undermajordomo Minor

In his review for The New York Times, author Daniel Handler praised deWitt for subverting genres in the novel and wrote that it "offers the same delights as the fairy tales and adventure stories it takes on".^[14]

Colin Dwyer of NPR also praised deWitt's genre blending and the character of Lucien Minor for giving the novel a "genuine earnestness", but criticized the novel's pacing for being rushed.^[2]

Writing for The Guardian, novelist Liz Jensen felt elements of the novel's plot were often predictable and criticized the protagonist Lucy for lacking the "complexity and nuance" of Eli from The Sisters Brothers, but nonetheless praised the success of the novel's backdrop and deWitt's "frolicsome chain of intrigues".^[3]

In his review for The Washington Post, author Glen David Gold criticized the novel's narrative for not having the "nimbleness" of other similar folk tales which also experimented with structure, but concluded his review with praise for the protagonist and the world conjured by deWitt.^[11]

Steve Nathans-Kelly of Paste gave the novel an 8.5 out of 10 rating, writing, "deWitt has somehow created a fable in which the comic narrative voice is impossibly accomplished, and nearly every word is funny."^[15]

Chris Feliciano Arnold of the SFGate felt the novel's characters lacked the "emotional weight" of those in The Sisters Brothers.^[16]

In October 2016, director Kelly Reichardt revealed that for her next film she would be collaborating with author DeWitt in an adaptation of Undermajordomo Minor, which could possibly be shot outside of the U.S.^[17][18] In October 2018, it was announced Reichardt had put Undermajordomo Minor on hold and would instead reunite with Jon Raymond to direct First Cow, an adaptation of his novel The Half-Life.^[19]