Friday, February 1, 2013

The Best of Youth by Michael Dahlie

Henry Lang finds himself at loose ends when he inherits $15 million dollars from his parents' estate after they die in an accident. Living in Brooklyn and having feelings for his fourth cousin, Abby, Henry writes short stories and puts up the money to start a literary magazine called Suckerhead.  Henry is kind and intellectual, yet he's a hapless fellow who finds it hard to fit in with other people his age.  Still, Abby and new acquaintance Whitney prove to be real friends to him, which is what he needs, since, after agreeing to ghostwrite a young adult novel for a famous actor, he slowly realizes it might be a decision that leads to his undoing. The Best of Youth is the second novel by Michael Dahlie and is similar to The Extra Man by Jonathan Ames and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  I thoroughly enjoy Dahlie's writing style--his vivid characterizations and the lightly humorous situations he puts Henry in signal such an unique voice.  Is there any way to arrange it so it's not another four and a half years between novels?

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