No-nonsense US family-relationship comedy-drama in the Zoe Heller/Claire Messud/Jonathan Franzen mold. Immensely readable in parts, particularly those featuring Leonard, apparently inspired by David Foster Wallace, and his decline into manic depression. Heroine Madeline however was a charmless drip, as was third wheel and author-inspired Mitchell Grammaticus, his surname reminding me of one of the most vapid and overrated novels Ian McEwan's
Saturday. Once Leonard left the stage it was a drag, and the ending offered little satisfaction. This has been said already by reviewers but the use of such blandly straightforward narrative structure to question avant-garde writing only shows this technique to be the tired cliche it is.
