Book Reviews

Putatively a sequel to Less Than Zero, Ellis’s latest actually has nothing in common with his audacious debut except for the same setting and character names. Twenty-five years after the fictional birth of coked-out-of-his-mind teenager Clay, here he is again as a 43-year-old screenwriter, newly returned to LA after a years-long stint in New York. (Like its predecessor, Imperial Bedrooms takes place in a four-week span over the winter holidays.) But any other textual links are curiously absent. One would think that in 25 years, the characters, Clay included, would have lived lives and probably considered their tangled relations as teenagers and the questions left at Less Than Zero’s end.

Martin Amis’s latest novel opens with the blunt declaration: “This is the story of a sexual trauma.” Actually, The Pregnant Widow is the story of many a sexual trauma, as 20-year-old London student Keith Nearing’s libidinous plans are consistently foiled by a trio of wily young women. Set primarily during the summer of 1970 at a Tuscan castle, The Pregnant Widow is Amis’s surest fictional effort since 1995’s The Information, propelled by fresh, intriguing, downright fun prose. Too bad the sharp central narrative is dulled by asides to Keith’s post-1970 life, including a fairly preposterous coda that showcases the author’s well-known “Islamophobia.”

Writer Laura Munson had her big break last July when her essay, "Those Aren’t Fighting Words, Dear" appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times’ Sunday Style section. A magazine writer with more than a dozen unpublished novels under her belt, Munson explained how she dealt with her husband’s sudden pronouncement that he did not love her anymore, perhaps never did, and that he wanted to move out of their rural Montana home, rationalizing that their kids would want him to be happy.

Fans of How to Breathe Underwater (2003), Orringer’s acclaimed debut story collection, needn’t wait any longer for the author’s much anticipated and masterfully crafted first novel. A sprawling, page-turning love story and tale of brothers set against the backdrop of World War II, The Invisible Bridge will impress a larger, broader audience, so Orringer devotees, take note: this is a whole new ride. Steeped in research and grand at 600-pages (no wonder it’s been seven years in the making), the novel marks a clear departure from Orringer’s intimately knit stories of children, identity, and loss.