New fiction includes holiday horror stories

Thanksgiving is over for another year, but two of the novels in this roundup focus on turkey days that may make you thankful for dinners where the biggest argument was over who gets the drumstick.

Other new fiction we review includes an atmospheric look at old New Orleans, intrigue expressed through letters, a mystery in a pediatric burn unit, and a 12th-century love story.

We've also included a review of the latest collection of issues of The Onion. It seems strange to list this book in fiction, since so many of its fake news stories are spot-on, but regardless of how you classify it, it's sure to be a hit with anyone who needs a laugh.

Devil's in the details
In "The Lay Of The Land" (Knopf; $27), Richard Ford writes for the third time about Frank Bascombe, who was also the subject of 1986's "The Sportswriter" and 1995's "Independence Day." Frank has now entered what he calls the "Permanent Period," marked by battered family connections, cancer, and a successful career in real estate.

Although it's the length of an epic, "The Lay Of The Land" is a powerfully intimate examination of just a couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving 2000. For these few days, Ford traces nearly every thought Frank has during a period of wandering that takes him, among other places, to a bar fight, a hotel implosion, and a surprising discussion with his first wife.

Ford's skill lies not only in vivid writing, but in the pace at which he reveals details, allowing the entire story to consist of Frank talking about himself without ever becoming an avalanche of exposition. Frank discusses his life as anyone might: past events are illuminated by present-day reminders, and his reflections become less guarded as the story progresses.

The book builds to a conclusion that's as suspenseful and satisfying as a thriller, simply because Frank has mapped his life so thoroughly that every consequence of every event can be immediately felt.      —Linda Holmes

‘Writers School’ for readers
It’s easy to dismiss a book about a male writing teacher in the midst of a midlife crisis as just another would-be John Updike working out his pathetic, self-important demons. But passing over Steven Carter’s sophomore novel, “Famous Writers School” (Counterpoint, $23), would be a shame. The author deftly combines a love story with crime fiction to create a subtly ironic and insightful take on the writing process.

Sweetly anachronistic, “Famous Writers School” seems to take place in an alternative 21^st century where e-mail is not readily available. The story unfolds through a series of snail-mail correspondences between Wendell Newton, the sole proprietor of the so-called Famous Writers School, and three students: blues singer Rio, disgruntled housewife Linda, and John Deere salesman Dan. To his peril, Wendell is flirtatious with Rio, dismissive with Linda and condescending to Dan, whose superior writing he plans to steal. Through the anonymity of the written word, not everyone is who he or she seems.

Carter creates voices and writing styles for each of the four characters that are as separate and distinct as hair color or body type. “Famous Writers School” captures the ego-driven dynamics and literary name-dropping familiar to anyone who has ever been in a writing group, taken an adult writing class or even belonged to a book club. Casual readers, too, should enjoy Carter’s wry insights on the insecurities of human nature.     —Helen A.S. Popkin

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