"This coy, macabre novel recounts a trip to Venice taken by a middling English writer in the early twentieth century. His memories are presented as a defense against the "prurient and hysterical attention" that was heaped upon him after a series of "dark and tragic events"-set off by the disappearance of his wife, a wellborn American who vanished from the decrepit palazzo where the couple stayed during their honeymoon."
"Set in Los Angeles, this ruminative novel alternates in perspective between a blockbuster actor, his best friend and sometime lover, and an aspiring screenwriter. After decades in Hollywood, the actor has taken to drinking heavily and sleeping with a much younger woman. Then he decides to give away millions of dollars of his earnings in a lottery. As his best friend watches his apparent breakdown, she remembers their years of intimacy and the particular contours of their unusual love."
A coy, macabre novel recounts a trip to Venice by a middling English writer whose memories serve as a defense against prurient and hysterical attention after his wife's disappearance from the decrepit palazzo where the couple honeymooned. The protagonist represents a study in self-deception and preserves a gentlemanly identity despite modest origins. A ruminative novel set in Los Angeles alternates among a blockbuster actor, his best friend and sometime lover, and an aspiring screenwriter. The actor's decades in Hollywood lead to heavy drinking, affairs, and an impulsive decision to give away millions in a lottery, raising questions about artistic legacy, intimacy, and philanthropic motive.
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]