The book was an international success. Already at the publication, several European critics received the book's narrator as a fictionalised authorpersona, and the book as an attempt from Malaparte to position himself after Italy's defeat and his own past as a fascist sympathiser. When the English translation was published in 1946, Kirkus Reviews received it as a true account and called it "a subtly brilliant piece of writing" where Malaparte is "whipping the sensibilities to a sharp awareness of the degradation of Europe, of the utter collapse of morality, integrity, and so on".
Translations
The book was translated into Lithuanian by Tomas Venclova.