What's Wrong with America

Trapped in a marriage that she calls ``forty-five years of servile misery,'' 68-year-old Emma O'Hallahan takes an unusual step--she shoots her husband in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun. So begins this satire of contemporary American society, set in suburban California. After burying her spouse ``underneath the rhododendron tree in the back garden,'' Emma begins to remake her life in her own image: sleeping late, drinking brandy, watching daytime talk shows and, most importantly, keeping a journal of her newfound awareness. Despite Emma's honest and engaging voice, however, her story ultimately fails to grip the imagination. After opening the novel with a literal bang, Bradfield's ( The History of Luminous Motion ) protagonist remains essentially a passive character, spending most of her time at home, contemplating her misfortunes and arguing with her dead husband's ghost. Hers is a sad story, but it never becomes a captivating one. (Sept.)