Real Estate

Homethe nostalgia for one's childhood residence, the one-upmanship of owning the right apartment, the discomfort of owning the wrong oneis the central motif of this thoroughly modern comedy of manners. Set in New York, the novel follows the lives of Lorraine and her husband David, successful yuppies (she's involved in fashion, he's a lawyer), and the various people with whom each becomes emotionally entangled. Bored with his marriage, David starts seeing the much younger Cecilia; Lorraine has a liaison with a failed East Village painter named Jack. David moves in with Cecilia, is booted out and spends a nightmarish time cruising crummy neighborhoods in search of a new apartment. Jack joins Lorraine and her teenage daughter but this relationship doesn't flourish either, and Jack returns home. Both Jack and David must suffer endless humiliation before their (at least partial) redemption. Both funny and horrifyingthese characters are shameless about airing their dirty linen in publicthis novel by the author of In Thrall is nonetheless a scathing commentary on the New York upwardly mobile lifestyle. (March)