Face-Time

This book is wonderful. This is one of those books that I stayed up all night to finish. Tarloff's writing filled me with the characters's joy and sorrow as if it were my own. The writing is exquisite. The book is perfect. The first thing I did after finishing this book was to look for more books by Erik Tarloff, but there are none. I hope to see more by this author soon, whatever the subject.

Coming on the heels of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, I hesitated to read this book. It would have been my loss; however, as I enjoyed this book immensely from start to finish. Parallels can most certainly be drawn to well-know presidential dalliances past (and I'm sure present!), but as a Washington outsider, I enjoyed feeling "privy" to the political connections and power struggles in what seems to be a very one-dimensional, at times almost provincial, town. This book contains all the elements that make it a page turner--wit, humor, romance, intrigue, angst, power.... This book humbled me. I thought I possessed a fairly extensive vocabulary, then I read this novel! A suggestion: Keep a dictionary handy!I look forward to Erik Tarloff's next endeavor!

How curious......looking at a presidential affair through the lens of the guy who's being cuckolded by the President! What shines through isn't the tawdriness of the affair (a la Monica), but the zinging emotions that the characters experience, from the elated high of new love to the distressing darkness of things gone wrong. Mix in the spice of politics, and you've got FACE TIME.If you enjoy being totally absorbed by spirited fictional yarns, don't mind a story that hits close to home, at times, and are up for more than a few good laughs....then....you'll love reading FACE TIME. Get it!!!(Reportedly, this is Tarloff's first novel....I hope he'll keep them coming!!!)

This witty, elegantly written novel is so much more than just a riveting story about Washington: it's a hilarious and perceptive book about behavior, what people are really thinking under the surface, whom they're attracted to and why, and how ethics get caught up in the mix. The author is deeply compassionate about seeing people as they really are, illuminating their foibles without throwing rocks at them. (And he doesn't mix metaphors as I just did...) Delightful and wise at the same time --- and maybe above all else, damn funny.