Misterioso

Only close readers of the previous two volumes in Sorrentino's trilogy ( Odd Number ; Rose Theatrestet Brit spelling ) can hope to discern anything resembling a plot in this final work. A truncated series of frustrating anecdotes outline a ragtag crew of individuals who are somewhere on the fringes of the arts and/or life. Details about these eccentrics are revealed in brief ``items'' interspersed throughout (``Plain Lucia Lewison, at one time Henry's wife, was not locked out of the Kodak Motor Inn, `allegedly nude,' by John Greene Czcu; she was ejected from the Lido''). Sorrentino fires off numerous references to other literary works and characters as well as peppery attacks on the literary establishment; he ventriloquizes the language of supermarket tabloids, apes European accents and produces a gaggle of stewardesses all named Karen, but his evident wit might have been better diverted to character development. (Nov.)