It’s very good, but do you ever find yourself reading a sex scene and wondering why — like, that there’s some rule of fiction stating that any novel for grown-ups has to have some sex in it, even if it’s immaterial?   Anyway.   A really good, absorbing read overall, but the “resolution” of the plot is a letdown; the book did this Shyamalan thing where the set-up is so elaborate and sharply observed and then the payoff doesn’t match up in terms of intensity.   The solution to the mystery was, like, loose and rambly and entirely telling instead of showing, and I guess you could call that realistic, but it isn’t why we read fiction, that kind of unsatisfying, limp conclusion — plus, an unsympathetic character who had been 1) missing in action for a good hundred pages and 2) not shown to us initially as terribly important anyway turns out to be the linchpin.   Either she’s a bitch or we don’t care what she is…bah.   It sounds like I really didn’t like the book, but that’s not true; I liked it a lot.   The last twenty pages undercut the great work that came before, though, so I would recommend it, but don’t bother following the plot, because it doesn’t matter.   Follow Lethem’s language. (3/8/05)

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