Esquire
Wednesday, April 14th, 2004

 

Enter your email address below and seven days a week a new review will arrive in your mail.

Email address:

Click here to read about Powells.com's privacy policy.

More reviews from Esquire

The Epicure's Lament
by Kate Christensen

Have You Read About the Lonesome Loser?
A Review by Adrienne Miller

Hugo Whittier, the antihero of Kate Christensen's tremendously entertaining third novel, is every bit as tormented, irascible, self-hating, and funny as any other classic loser of contemporary literature. Think Martin Amis's John Self, then add dashes of Montaigne and M.F.K. Fisher. Poor Hugo once fancied himself a writer of sorts, but now, at forty, he finds himself decaying decorously at his family's faded estate on the Hudson (name: Waverly). He's dying -- or so he claims (Hugo isn't what you'd call a reliable narrator) -- of too many cigarettes, which means Hugo, being the loser he is, is determined to smoke even more: " 'If I don't smoke I'll likely become agitated and froth at the mouth,' I rejoined pleasantly. 'I have to smoke. It's my human condition.' " Like all great narcissists, Hugo is extremely amused by himself, but bored to tears by everyone else. His lush solitude is broken when two things happen: 1) His older brother Dennis, nursing wounds from a wrecked marriage, decides to move back to Waverly, and 2) a letter arrives for Hugo from his sort-of-ex-wife Sonia. The plot of The Epicure's Lament is rather thin, but no matter: You'll find yourself intensely involved with Chistensen's epigrammatic Hugo.

Read more about this book


Click here to subscribeSubscribe to Esquire and Save 75%

Get 12 fantastic issues of Esquire magazine for only $8. The best culture, entertainment, style, financial advice, women and more delivered right to your door every month ? at an incredible 81% savings off the newsstand price! What could be better... or easier?

Click here to subscribe now!