Desperate Characters

It is difficult to believe that "Desperate Characters", originally published in 1970, was out of print more than a decade. So much for the erstwhile judgment of the publishing establishment, for this novel is a near perfect work of fiction that can rightfully be considered one of the finest American novels of this century."Desperate Characters" tells the story of Otto and Sophie Bentwood, a childless couple in their 40s ("Sophie... Read Full Review

It is difficult to believe that "Desperate Characters", originally published in 1970, was out of print more than a decade. So much for the erstwhile judgment of the publishing establishment, for this novel is a near perfect work of fiction that can rightfully be considered one of the finest American novels of this century."Desperate Characters" tells the story of Otto and Sophie Bentwood, a childless couple in their 40s ("Sophie... Read Full Review

I first read Paula Fox's extraordinary novel, "Desperate Characters," in 1971. I was (and am) a voracious reader of fiction. Never had I read anything that was as precise and powerful as this perfect little jewel of a novel. This story of a middle-aged New York couple (Otto and Sophie Bentwood) who,although seemingly self-aware,capable (He is a successful attorney; she is elegant and self-deprecatingly witty, a translator... Read Full Review

Masterfully written but bleak pyschological study of American angst circa 1970, told through three and one half days in the life of a 40ish woman living in a gentrified section of Brooklyn. If any of the various tragedies besetting our bland heroine would rise to some epic level, even that would offer some relief from her oppressive ennui. As it is, each affront is banal and ambiguous, and she and her husband are trapped... Read Full Review

You may never have heard of Paula Fox (her novels have never sold well; her children's fiction is for, well, children; but her granddaughter is Courtney Love), but, in a perfect world, you would have, many times over. She is a brilliant prose stylist--one of the surest hands in modern fiction. Desperate Characters is remarkably powerful. Fox's strenth is her ability to fashion absolutely tight plotlines that revolve around... Read Full Review