The Speed of Light

Pashman, Susan

ISBN 10: 1877946869 / ISBN 13: 9781877946868

Published by The Permanent Press, Sag Harbor, NY, 1997

About this Item

207 pages. The dust jacket has very minor shelf and edge wear and is in very fine condition. The book itself has very minor shelf and edge wear and is in very fine to as new condition. It is inscribed by the author "For Judy & Fred." on the title page. This is a novel of Upper East Side New York Jewish manners starting from the 1950s.

Seller Inventory # 001062

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Speed of Light
• Publisher: The Permanent Press, Sag Harbor, NY
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1877946869
• ISBN 13: 9781877946868
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Book by Pashman, Susan

Reviews

Pashman debuts with this precise and troubling portrait of a smug and cultured man who doesn't recognize his own despair. Nathan Kline is an ophthalmologist on the way up: He has the right credentials, a Park Avenue practice, and a carefully cultivated appreciation of music, food, and painting. When he spots Carla, a fresh-faced college student, in an elevator, he pegs her as a thoroughbred and wants her for his wife. He writes her a letter introducing himself; her parents, impressed by his r‚sum‚ and his vocabulary, urge her to accept a date. And though Carla never feels more than mild affection for him, she bows to popular opinion and marries him. In short order, Nathan comes to find his wife inscrutable, her quirks unpleasant, her neuroses worthy of contempt. Still, there are consolations: He rakes in grant money to conduct research that a loyal assistant designs; he has a chain of extramarital affairs; his practice flourishes; his form on the ski slope is admirably crisp. Years go by. He has two daughters and is surprised and pleased by their affection; he goes to concerts; he disappoints his marriage-minded lovers by not leaving his wife. Nathan's realizes, though, that his body is aging; the prospect of open-heart surgery makes him briefly aware of the extent to which he never understood his patient's fears. In despair, he calls Vera, the ex-lover of a friend: She's intelligent, self-possessed, and alive, and he begins to fantasize about a new beginning. But ultimately the familiar inertia prevails, and he remains tied to Carla. Nathan is a memorable character, restless in his ambitions but remarkably unable to reflect on what he lacks or to value what he has. A vivid cautionary tale, then, about the seductions and emptiness of a life in which conquest stands in for love. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.