[ad_1]
Note: Four out of five stars
Libby Epstein, narrator of Taffy Brodesser-Akner's first exciting novel, Fleishman is in trouble, is a writer turned suburban mom obsessed with the work of Archer Sylvan, a legendary journalist of Tom Wolfe-esque who chose one aspect of his story and defended it passionately, ignoring all the contrary evidence . Late in the book, about the hectic life after the marital separation of Libby's old friend, doctor, doctor Toby Fleishman, Libby states, "I would never be Archer Sylvan, but I would write my book and he there would be something in this book. was unable to, which is every side of the story, even those who hurt to look directly – even those who made us too angry to want to hear them. "
Libby is a replacement for the author of Brodesser-Akner, a New York Times a staff member of the magazine who created a celebrity profile art that lets you wonder how she can celebrate and condemn her subjects at the same time. (Her interview with Gwyneth Paltrow gave an image of the actress's elegant feet to a metaphor for the uselessness of the Paltrow's Goop product line for most of her clients.) And with this book, Brodesser-Akner did exactly what his fictitious counterpart promises to do. . She writes with the heavy and masterful word play of a Wolfe, but with empathy and curiosity for all the players of the tale. It's a sociological dissection trenched from our current way of life, but she cares about her characters as people in a way that is absent from Wolfe's prose – or even Jonathan Franzen's, whose work evokes Brodesser-Akner with confidence – rising.
Brodesser-Akner can therefore go from page to page to another, describing the many women Fleishman met via the new dating apps on her phone: "There was Sara from Oregon," writes she, "who wanted to be a painter and had a piss when she gave jobs to the hand." There was Bette, who had already been in a porn, or maybe just a homemade video that an ex-girlfriend boyfriend then handed out, and who said: "That's what she said" four times over two Cape Cod. "On the other hand, she paints three-dimensional all the people that we meet: Fleishman, his children, his elusive and allegedly monstrous wife, Rachel, and many others. Even women on apps turn out to be much more (and sometimes less) than the generous sexual fantasies that Toby would rather keep, as the book slowly but surely begins to wonder if we should, as Archer Sylvan would, next to the character of the title.
Libby herself is a relatively minor figure for much of the story, in the same way that Brodesser-Akner allows herself to be present, but only as much, in her journalism. But both women write with a clear and addictive voice. Fleishman is in trouble will sometimes make you angry at the things that the people who participate in it do, but it will make you especially hungry for everything that Brodesser-Akner will write afterwards.
[Find the Book Here]
[ad_2]
Source link