April 29, 1996
Writing from the point of view of a psychologically troubled narrator, journalist Norwich, editor at large for Vogue, saddles his debut novel with more problems than it can survive. Middle aged, gay Julian Orr, a disenchanted New York gossip columnist and aspiring writer who, like his creator, makes his living profiling the lives of the rich and trendy, is advised by his psychiatrist to get a driver's license so that he can visit his parents' graves in suburban Connecticut. Ensuing chapters alternate between Julian's memories of childhood in a seriously dysfunctional Jewish family and his disastrous experience en route to his driving test, in which he is abducted by a psychopathic Hispanic driving instructor and taken on what proves to be a deadly joyride. The flashbacks are much more loosely connected, chronicling the narrator's anguished coming-of-age and the deaths of both his parents before he reaches adulthood. Julian's abduction and the subsequent events eventually lead to a media frenzy: the situation between driver and passenger is meant to bring forth issues of class, race and sexual orientation, but Norwich overstates his material until not a drop of drama remains. In trying to convey Julian's "spacey, distracted'' personality, Norwich gives his protagonist an uninflected, almost dimwitted voice that, while intended to summon the reader's sympathy, may instead set teeth on edge. Trite prose, the boy Julian's inappropriate observations (he is portrayed as both hopelessly clueless and supremely observant) and a lack of a narrative center take the book over the edge from what is meant to be tight-lipped pathos to sheer and utter silliness.