The Devil’s Grip

This madcap offering from Wolff (Carnality) zags from the heady sweetness of Florence to the mystical allure of New Orleans. The unnamed narrator, a rootless 30-something Scandinavian woman, has fallen madly in love in Italy with an ugly and cruel man known only as “il pulito” for being neat and tidy. Their relationship is complicated—she is possessive; he beats her and flagrantly cheats—and made even more so by the woman’s belief that they are possessed by devils, the only possible explanation she can find for their violent, passionate, codependent behaviors. A chance encounter with another man gives her an opportunity to leave il pulito behind and start over in New Orleans. Unfortunately, a different kind of evil awaits her there, and she is left with only a “worm’s-eye-view” of the city, desperate to escape back to Florence and her devilish true love. The off-the-rails plot does not rise to the heights of Wolff’s best novels and the people the narrator meets in New Orleans are mere caricatures rather than fully fleshed characters. Still, il pulito and some of the other cast, including the therapist the couple briefly sees, are rendered monstrously and magnificently. It’s a provocative addition to Wolff’s impressive canon. (Apr.)