"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Before having come to work in the city, nothing much had threatened the sheltered and well-heeled lifestyles of the pedigreed Lenhart, his wealthy college roommate Chat Wethers, and their mutual childhood friend, the classically aloof Kate Goodenow. Nothing, that is, except for a shared (and silent) envy of Kate's high school boyfriend, Nick Beale, the poor "year-rounder" from the Maine coastal village turned boarding-school beneficiary turned pot-smoking dropout with exceptional sailing prowess and a passion for the Caribbean. Nick represents life lived without a script, and his story weaves in and out of the others' with a spontaneity that they so patently lack. His is a known spontaneity, though, and when the less definable one of skill, ambition, and new wealth--in the form of socially inept computer wizard Harry Lombardi--enters their sphere, the threads of the old world begin to fray. George looks on, bemused, as his class-conscious friends make careless (but transparently desperate) attempts to adjust their values, loyalties, and relationships.
Macy is adept at capturing the nuances of this last generation of aristocrats, caught between a desire for the past's fading gentility and the pressures of a faster game with a less rigid code of conduct. As George wryly admits, "It is hard to be reckless and still have one's shirts starched." Macy's language occasionally reflects the incongruous juxtaposition of these two worlds, mixing words like "foppishly" and "fleece" rather clumsily together, and her narrator speaks in a vernacular that seems far older than his mere 23 years, conjuring up visions of a Wharton-era New York rather than the city of the last decade. Her eye for odd details is deliciously surreptitious, however, and always viciously acute: she can paint sideline characters' entire personalities with one tidy turn of phrase, such as "Her face was tan--the whole party was filled with parents who had better tans than their children--and she wore pink lipstick that sat on her lips and beamed when they beamed." The Fundamentals of Play rides along on such observations, rewarding its readers with a glimpse into a (thankfully) disappearing world. --S. Ketchum
--Maureen Howard
"Immensely enjoyable. Whether or not you are familiar with the world of wealth and privilege, the touching, distinctive voice of this narrator will draw you into a universal tale of good and bad conduct, loss, and desire."
--Elizabeth Strout
"A witty and sophisticated tragicomedy of errors....A winning debut: traditional in all aspects and remarkably adept."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Clever and thoroughly entertaining...elegant and ironic."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 1.3. Seller Inventory # bk0375504133xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 1.3. Seller Inventory # 353-0375504133-new
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE Advance Reader's Edition-Unrevised Proofs-Not For Sale. 1st Edition-Stated. 1st Printing-Full # Line. New copy. Never read. Trade paperback format. Beautiful copy of Book & Cover. COLLECTOR'S COPY. Seller Inventory # 001383
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.3. Seller Inventory # Q-0375504133