The lives and loves of a group of New York women are breathlessly hashed over in this collection of amusing stories by a contributor to The New Yorker and Wigwag—droll, sophisticated fiction by a promising Brooklyn writer. As in all really good gossip, the characters in these interlocked accounts establish their roles quickly and with dramatic abandon: Susannah, who came to New York to be an actress, marries early and rich; Eileen Filley, the contentious and slovenly playwright, achieves success too young; Dee Kilmartin throws parties where drunks shatter mirrors in the foyer and fall asleep in the bathtub, while Liz Quirk informs everyone of the facts behind every rumor, and Rosemary, the narrator, lets the reader in on what's really going on. All approaching their 30s, these urban strivers meet at cafes, in sublet apartments, and over the phone to gasp at such remarkable events as Susannah's move to the suburbs; Eileen's decision to take a job in a card shop as her first play opens on Broadway; and Dee's move uptown and her subsequent devastating isolation; and to wonder over such oddities as the Mask Woman, the girlfriend who never speaks, the in-laws who laugh at everything, and so on. Urban fears—including dreams of being found dead in one's apartment (``The problem,'' says Liz, ``is I have such a good deal on this place that the dream isn't just anxiety, it's prophecy'') and fantasies of escape via professional success, marriage and/or children, or a permanent apartment—distract from dreaded moments of calm reflection. As Rosemary admits, ``There's a special sort of pang you get when you realize that you aren't going to learn seven languages, and that there are countries you won't ever visit, and that somehow through the years you've turned into a specific sort of person.'' On the other hand, ``Think of all the things that could happen at a party.'' An accurate chronicle, wittily rendered.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-394-57638-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.
Passion, friendship, heartbreak, and forgiveness ring true in Lovering's debut, the tale of a young woman's obsession with a man who's "good at being charming."
Long Island native Lucy Albright, starts her freshman year at Baird College in Southern California, intending to study English and journalism and become a travel writer. Stephen DeMarco, an upperclassman, is a political science major who plans to become a lawyer. Soon after they meet, Lucy tells Stephen an intensely personal story about the Unforgivable Thing, a betrayal that turned Lucy against her mother. Stephen pretends to listen to Lucy's painful disclosure, but all his thoughts are about her exposed black bra strap and her nipples pressing against her thin cotton T-shirt. It doesn't take Lucy long to realize Stephen's a "manipulative jerk" and she is "beyond pathetic" in her desire for him, but their lives are now intertwined. Their story takes seven years to unfold, but it's a fast-paced ride through hookups, breakups, and infidelities fueled by alcohol and cocaine and with oodles of sizzling sexual tension. "Lucy was an itch, a song stuck in your head or a movie you need to rewatch or a food you suddenly crave," Stephen says in one of his point-of-view chapters, which alternate with Lucy's. The ending is perfect, as Lucy figures out the dark secret Stephen has kept hidden and learns the difference between lustful addiction and mature love.
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6964-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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