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From: book reviews Category: Art Date: 24 January 2007 Time: 05:00 PM Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/books/24kaku.html this review put me off. and rereading it some of the points seem valid. But actually i had a wonderful time with the lay of the land. i loved the accumulation of a zillion details of middle aged american white male new jersey- shore life. I love novels which detail the sheer fecundity of information in contemporary life. a little more of updike's rabbit, post-mortem. are there english novelists which summon, conjure, channel the life of now, with such technicolour glory as updike, ford, and to a lesser extent, or in a different way, bellow and roth? The sourness of petty racism, seems a common feature of updike and fords heroes, and i suppose there's an argument to say it's realistic, but given they seem to reflect so much of the consciousness of the author, and be documented with the joy of transgression, and saying what WE really think, I wish it wasn't so steady and draining, this rotten old prejudice. But still give me all the thoughts of some cancered real-estate agent and I'll head to my middle age happy.