A man who had turned self-indulgence into an art form finally sees himself as others do and sheds his first tear over the realization that he and the woman carrying his child will never be what they seem.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Is this a man's stream-of-consciousness diary, or is it a novel by the man's girlfriend, or did she pilfer his journal and sell it as her own work of fiction? This debut novel plays a continuous rug-pulling game with the reader, who may grow too weary to care very much by the novel's end. Tony Schatz is a self-indulgent New York artiste who fills his diary with unfunny one-liners about life and himself and his hatred for his mother. ("Hey, look, I was the only fetus I know who had to send for take-out.") But when casual encounters with his friend Celia Persky result in her pregnancy, his cool relationship with the world is headed for a series of apocalyptic changes. Unfortunately, despite this potentially interesting premise and some vivid writing, Shapiro has created irritating characters who spout self-conscious drivel. Even as it tries too hard, the narrative remains unfinished and superficial. The reader who stays with the story will be one jump ahead of Tony the whole way; by the time he is dazzled by revelations of Celia's duplicity, outrage will have been replaced by boredom.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A first novel that tells a perverse tale of modern-day romance: hardened womanizer gets snared by unexpected attachment to originally unwanted male offspring. Thritysomething Tony Schatz is a king of the downtown New York scene: A sometime writer, he makes his money driving for a car service two nights a week. The rest of the time he spends in bed with an assortment of women--his live-in mistress, 20-year-old dancer Robin; his wife, Barb, also a dancer, from whom he is separated; and his many girlfriends, who recently include the tough and seasoned Celia Persky, a high-school acquaintance/writer. Tony manages his myriad affairs by claiming an honesty that borders on misogyny. When Celia finds herself pregnant and pragmatically decides to have the child, Tony flips--only to find himself eventually giving in to heretofore unimaginable paternal instincts when the baby turns out to be a boy. Suddenly Tony becomes inexplicably unable to have sex with anyone but Celia, drawn to her nursing breast like a baby to its mom. After fighting the inevitable, he gradually finds himself settling into the security of domestic life, remarkably happy for the first time in his life. But just when he least expects it, he is betrayed--in a way he has never conceived--and is ultimately destroyed. Though occasional ``insider'' references to the art scene do not, necessarily, a ``downtown'' novel make, Shapiro manages to get us inside Tony's narcissistic head so convincingly that we are as surprised as he at his final reaction. A new and cynical twist to the transforming powers of love. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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