Donald Antrim, The Hundred Brothers: A Novel, with an introduction by Jonathan Franzen (New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997, 2011) (from the "Introduction": "Midway through his narrative, Doug spells out the fundamental fact that drives it: 'I love my brothers and I hate their guts.' The beauty of the novel is that Antrim has created a narrator who reproduces, in the reader, the same volatile mixture of feelings regarding the narrator himself: Doug is at once irresistibly lovable and unbearably frustrating. The genius of the novel is that it maps these contradictory feelings onto the archetypal figure of the scapegoat: the exemplary sufferer who recurs throughout human history, most notably in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, as an object of both love and homicidal rage, and who must be ritually killed in order for the rest of us to go in living with the contradictions in our lesser hearts." Id. at ix-x.).
J. G. Ballard, Kingdom Come: A Novel (New York: Liveright, 2006, 2012) ("'... The churches are empty, and the monarchy shipwrecked itself on its own vanity. Politics is a racket, and democracy is just another utility, like gas and electricity. Almost no one has any civic feeling. Consumerism is the one thing that gives us our sense of values. Consumerism is honest, and teaches us that everything good has a barcode. The great dream of the Enlightenment, that reason and rational self-interest would one day triumph, led directly to today's consumerism.' . . . 'But if reason and light have triumphed?' 'They haven't. Because we're not reasonable and rational creatures. Far from it. We resort to reason when it suits us. For most people life is comfortable today, and we have the spare time to be unreasonable if we choose to be. We're like bored children. We've been on holiday for too long, and we've been given too many presents. Anyone who's had children knows that the greatest danger is boredom. Boredom, and a secret pleasure in one's own malice. Together they can spur a remarkable ingenuity.' 'Let's stuff baby's month with sweets and see if he stops breathing?' 'Exactly.' ...'" Id. at 120. "'Now. I see you as tomorrow's man. Consumerism is the door to the future, and you're helping to open it. People accumulate emotional capital, as well as cash in the bank, and they need to invest those emotions in a leader figure. They don't want a jackbooted fanatic ranting on a balcony. They want a TV host sitting with a studio panel, talking quietly about what matters in their lives. It's a new kind of democracy, where we vote at the cash counter, not the ballot box. Consumerism is the greatest device anyone has invented for controlling people. New fantasies, new dreams and dislikes, new souls to heal. For some peculiar reason, they call it shopping. But it's really the purest kind of politics. And you're at the leading edge. In fact, you could practically run the country.'" Id. at 166-167. See Charles Baxter, "Brute Force . . . Humanism," NYRB, 7/12/2012; and Scott Bradfield, "Mall Rats," NYT Book Review, Sunday 3/25/2012.).
Louis Begley, Schmidt Steps Back (New York: Knopf, 2012) (See Ron Carlson, "Once More with Feeling, NYT Book Review, Sunday 4/15/2012.).
Peter Carey, The Chemistry of Tears: A Novel (New York: Knopf, 2012) (See Andrew Miller, "Set in Motion," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/27/2012.).
Nick Dybek, When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man: A Novel (New York: Riverhead Books, 2012).
Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories (New York: Knopf, 2012) (See Stacy Schiff, "Camp Stories," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 2/19/2012).
Richard Ford, Canada (New York: Ecco, 2012) ("However, blaming your parents for your life's difficulties finally leads nowhere." Id. at 11. Also, see Michael Dirda, "The Art of Revealing the Wreckage," NYRB, 7/12/2012; & Andre Dubus III, "Points North, NYT Book Review, Sunday, 6/10/2012.).
William Goyen, The House of Breath: Under All Land Lies the Title (London: Serpent's Tail, 1949, 1990).
David Guterson, Ed King: A Novel (New York: Knopf, 2011) (See David Goodwillie, "Mama's Boy," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 11/27/2011.).
Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding: A Novel (New York: Little, Brown, 2011) (See Gregory Cowles, "Big League Anxiety on the Baseball Diamond," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 9/11/2011.).
John Irving, In One Person: Novel (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012) (See Jeanette Winterson, "Behind the Masks," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/13/2012..
Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel (New York: Random House, 2012) (See Christopher R. Beha, "North Korean Noir," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 1/15/2012.).
Thomas Mallon, Watergate: A Novel (New York: Panthon, 2012) (See Curtis Sittenfeld, "Expletives Deleted," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 3/4/2012.).
Tom McCarthy, Men in Space: A Novel, with an afterword by Simon Critchley (New York: Vintage Books, 2007, 2012) (See Stephen Burns, "Suspended Animation, NYT Book Review, Sunday, 2/26/2012.).
Matthew Pearl, The Technologists: A Novel (New York: Random House, 2012 ) (See James Parker, "Science Will Save Us," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 2/26/2012).
Elliot Perlman, The Street Sweeper: A Novel (New York: Riverhead Books, 2012) (See David Gates, "Collective Memory," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 1/29/2012.).
Edward St. Aubyn, At Last: A Novel (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011) ("'If there's an opportunity for irony...' 'You'll take it.' 'It's the hardest addiction of all,' said Patrick. 'Forget heroin. Just try giving up irony, that deep-down need to mean two things at once, to be in two places at once, not to be there for the catastrophe of a fixed meaning.' 'Don't! said Julia, 'I'm having enough trouble wearing nicotine patches and still smoking at the same time. Don't take away my irony,' she pleaded, clasping him histrionically, leave me with a little sarcasm.' 'Sarcasm doesn't count. It only means one thing: contempt.' 'You always were a quality freak,' said Julia. 'Some of us like sarcasm.'" Id. at 60-61. "'Don't worry if you change your mind,' said Mary. 'In fact,' said Thomas, 'you should change your mind, because that's what it's for!'" Id. at 256.).
Graham Swift, Wish You Were Here: A Novel (New York: Knopf, 2012) (See Stacey D'Erasmo, "An Island of One," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 4/22/2012.).
Paul Theroux, The Lower River: A Novel (Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) ("'... Remember this. When your rival stands on an anthill, never say 'I have caught you' until you are up there yourself.' " Id. at 222. Also, see Patrick McGrath, "Retracing His Steps," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/20/2012.).
Kevin Wilson, The Family Fang: A Novel (New York: Ecco, 2011).
Irvin D. Yalom, The Spinoza Problem: A Novel (New York: Basic Books, 2012).
