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Good Book

 I'm always eager to find a new voice; at the same time, I can be demanding, so then my reading world becomes a little echo chamber, a home *only* for Ruth Rendell and Anne Tyler.


"Good Company"--a splashy new novel by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney--has at least a few memorable characters. There is Margot, who has a prominent role on a long-running "ER"-ish show, and whose character must die "for ratings reasons." Margot sort of likes fame, but she hates having to sanitize her past, in interviews, and she doesn't love when the bossy costume-designer hovers near the snack table. ("You're having bread AND pasta salad.....?")

Margot complains about paparazzi, but also, if no one is noticing her in a crowd, she might dramatically drop her handbag as a way of calling attention to herself.

Margot's good friend Flora has had less success in the performance world, and she decides to give up when she finds herself bored in the chorus of Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast." (Flora plays a pair of teaspoons.) One night, the sexaganarian playing Lumiere accidentally sets himself on fire--and Flora corrects the issue, but she also ruins some choreography in her moment of haste. Later, instead of showing gratitude, the Lumiere actor has a tantrum. This is when Flora knows she is "done."

Finally, this novel has Julian, a director who gets involved in a half-hearted extramarital affair. He tells himself the sex isn't the worst thing--because it's happening while his wife and daughter are asleep.....thus, in a way, it's not really happening. This guy blames his marital bed-death on his Manhattan apartment--"We have a daughter now, and the walls are so thin"--but the couples therapist has a rejoinder. "If thin walls stopped sex, no one in all of New York City would get laid this year....."

Sweeney has a lively voice and a well-trained ear, and I think she has friends in Hollywood and on Broadway; I think she has mined the stories of these friends in a smart way.

I recommend "Good Company."
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