Wylie Rose is a young man who falls hard for a sophisticated and charming beauty, Cesca Bonet, whose narcissism and solipsistic nature make her impervious to the feelings of others. Time and again he runs to Cesca whenever she calls, despite knowing that she is seeing someone else, or is engaged, or about to disappear for years. Wylie is so captivated by Cesca that he ruins chances for loving relationships with women more willing and worthy. Can this cycle be broken? Will lessons be learned? What does loving someone really require? Answers to these questions come near the end of the story and are worth the wait. As in Dubow's first novel,
Indiscretion, his characters hail from the moneyed classes. Raised as trust-fund babies, Wylie and Cesca attend the top schools, summer in the Hamptons, and enjoy European tours. Consequently the novel offers a first-rate education in the best of Western art, travel, clothes, and cuisine.
VERDICT This is a page-turner for avid readers of romantic novels who enjoy learning how the rich live and whether they can rise above their first-world struggles. [See Prepub Alert, 11/3/14.]
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