FICTION

A Naked Singularity

by Sergio De La Pava
Univ. of Chicago. 2012. c.696p. ISBN 9780226141794. pap. $18. F
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De La Pava's ambitious, inspired and always humorous novel of ideas reflects the cynicism and world-weariness of our civic and cultural life. The son of Colombian immigrants, protagonist Casi is a New York public defender who has never lost a case—until he does, and then he compensates by taking a detour into the realm of what is not at all legal. Interwoven within this gripping legal thriller are meditations of the nature of television, the Human Genome Project, the career of boxer Wilfredo Benitez, and the gruesome nature of Alabama's death row. Many of the 33 chapters are introduced by quotations from the likes of Galileo, Rilke, Bacon, Descartes, and Wittgenstein.
VERDICT Although this work was self-published in 2008, it was discovered and republished by the University of Chicago and is now inviting comparisons with Pynchon and Dostoyevsky. For readers who love the challenge of intellectual fiction.
Reviewed by Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland , Jul 01, 2012
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