Review by Booklist Review
New York writer Storey has been demoted to the "Fun Section" of the newspaper: "Wallpaper, parking lots, bedspreads, and so on, that was my beat." She figures it is because her boss, the maniacal Mr. Underwood, felt she wasn't having enough fun. And perhaps she isn't: she's single and still pining for her colleague, the successful World Editor, Hobby Fox. Storey hails from New Orleans, and the southern tradition is still very much with her. For example, her method of dealing with New York's Jesus freaks--"crazed religious evangelists"--is to try to calm them down. In a sparkling narrative that shifts back and forth from New York to a vacation spot at Orient Point, Long Island, Storey details the dichotomies of her life and the adventures, sexual and otherwise, of those she observes--coworkers and such vacationers as Margaret, who continually wrecks her boat so she can meet men. Lemann, author of Lives of the Saints, writes with a sure wit and cool eye aimed at the lunacy of New York and the eccentricities of New Orleans. ~--Eloise Kinney
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Don't expect plot development in Lemann's meandering sequel to Lives of the Saints ; this essayistic novel requires the reader to adjust to its digressive flow and quirky, tragicomic narrator. As in that first novel, Lemann depicts Louisiana's Collier clan, this time via contemplative New York City columnist Storey Collier, who spends weekends in lush, plantation-esque Orient Point, Long Island. Storey's yearning for her home state causes her to regard her eccentric weekend companions with tenderness and indulgence, seeing in them classic examples of Southern misanthropy, hedonism and gentility. She waxes nostalgic over Manhattan's seedy Times Square because it recalls her beloved New Orleans; she takes comfort in baseball because sports bring her closer to old flame and fellow journalist Hobby Fox; she tirelessly reiterates favorite adjectives for her ``crashingly handsome'' but quite insane editor-in-chief, her cousin's unnaturally ``courtly'' three-year-old son, and NYC's ``crazy wino lunatics.'' Though frequently hilarious or (as Storey often says) ``poignant,'' Lemann's style requires patience. There is little to hold the reader, although a vague climax and denouement occur in the final pages, gently resolving Storey and Hobby's relationship. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
As in her first novel, Lives of the Saints ( LJ 6/15/85), Lemann's view of the world is strongly influenced by her New Orleans background. Although the setting here is Orient Point, Long Island, it is Louisiana that is the real ``sportsman's paradise.'' Through memories interspersed with present times, the life of Storey Collier gradually unfolds. Storey is haunted by her past and her love for Hobby Fox, a baseball player from New Orleans. Baseball becomes the symbol of their relationship and Hobby's failure to express his emotions. A cast of eccentric characters fills in the background of this richly descriptive novel. Recommended for general collections.--Stephanie Furtsch, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Lemann's second novel rambles on in its deceptively ladylike way, much like her first, Lives of the Saints (1985), which shares the same sense of lovable absurdity, and which also flirts with the dark side. This fragmentary tale of displaced southerners embraces the ``insane maniacs'' who stagger across its pages and into the life of its narrator, Storey Collier, a thirtysomethingish belle from ``Looziana'' who works for a major New York City newspaper. This admitted ``glamour gal'' spends her weekends at Orient Point, an enclave of eight houses on the North Shore of Long Island, where she keeps an eye on her cousin's children while he--a ``glamour boy'' turned ``burnt-out failure''--dries out in a New Orleans sanitarium. Everywhere she goes, Storey seeks out the sleazy, broken-down aspect of things--the sort of grubby elegance that reminds her of home. The rickety enclave on Long Island, with its whirl of boating, dinner parties, bridge, and ``getting plastered all afternoon,'' is summer home to a number of romantic characters- -from the volatile southern girl and ``live wire'' Margaret, who lands in jail every other night, to little Al Collier, the charming three-year-old son of Storey's cousin, a pint-size philosopher who adores both Storey and her former ``heartthrob,'' Hobby Fox. A ``moody bachelor'' and former pro baseball player, Hobby is a colleague of Storey's at the paper, and also a strong, silent type given to misanthropy, with a ``dark Southern wit.'' The ever- neurasthenic Storey, who agonizes over her career and her failure at romance, suffers with grace and a wit all her own; she beguiles with her sense of ``big-league poignancy'' and her tendency to overdramatize everything. Lemann's atmospheric fiction, with its loopy lyrical style, is an elegant testament to courtliness and gentility.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
