From Publishers Weekly
A nutty Queens tax lawyer-cum-fledging author puts himself in the hands of an emotionally conflicted book doctor in this talky, wistful novel by Cohen (No Charge for Looking). For Harbinger Singh, still in love with his ex-wife, Carla, writing a novel about his recent divorce is delicious revenge. For Arlette Rosen, ensconced in a chilly three-year relationship, doctoring other people's stories is a welcome distraction. Arlette's boyfriend, Jake, is "in film," wears only black and prefers to observe life rather than get too involved with it. Harbinger, in contrast, is playful, childlike and passionate. As Arlette tries to shape his unwieldy, sexy, autobiographical material into readable form, she finds herself being sucked into his novel as a fictional persona. At the same time, she recognizes that she wants to be in love with Jake, not merely find him adequate. Harbinger, too, is transformed by his work with Arlette, and Carla is shocked to discover that he is no longer the "dull, brown-suited fool [she] married and divorced." Cohen's novel is a gentle treatment of fragile relationships, humorously punctuated by the weird queries Arlette receives from struggling writers ("Dear Arlette, I'm writing to ask you for inspiration. Is it possible to send?"). Fluent, funny and true, it will particularly appeal to writers and those who must suffer them.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

I'm going to send this out as a controlled release ray to the BCers who have this on their wishlist. So far, WestofMars (PA) is interested, but wants to be last. More later!

Adding MorseCode (US/Canada preferred) to the list!

It's arrived, thanks very much Lorelei03! Looks very good, looking forward to reading it.

I can''t say I enjoyed this book all that much. Some of it was amusing, but for the most part it was just boring. I didn''t like the characters, I didn''t like the way they talked, the constant bombardment of words, almost in a sort of stream of consciousness style, but really just relentless self-absoption. And all the characters were the same, they all talked like that and it really got on my nerves.

I skipped most of the last few chapters, determined to finish it, but bored to tears. Nothing happens! And the best thing I can say about it, is that it inspired me to drag my own sorry novel out of the draw and give it to my Mum to read, it can''t be worse that some of the ideas in this book LOL!

I remember now I''ve come to do this journal that this is supposed to be a mini-ray, so I''ve PMed Morsecode and I''ll send it on to her once I have her address.

Thanks Lorelei03 for sending the book. Did you get The Nation''s Favourite? I posted it months ago, I thought it would have arrived by now.

Geez, Starry, that doesn't give me the warm fuzzies about this...

I have three books ahead of it for review, then I'll see if Morsie still wants it.

Whoa, this has been here a long time! And a second copy had arrived, as well, also during 2007. The good news is that I'm finally making a concerted effort to catch up on the books that have been languishing here. The bad news is that if a book doesn't grab me, I give up on it.

This is one that didn't just fail to grab me, I out-and-out didn't like it. The pretentious voice that's actually pretty cliched. The fact that if I treated my own clients like this, I couldn't live with myself. Seriously. I value the people I work with and for.

Just... yick.