Layover

The grief of losing a child and the process one woman has to go through afterwards, when she is "freed to behave in an irrational manner" after discovering her husband's infidelity (his own reaction to losing their child) is the crux of this, at times painful, at times wry, novel written by Lisa Zeidner. As a mother, I almost could not buy this book...the prospect of losing a child is so awful, I could not imagine being able to read it. However, the reviews were really good, and it had the addition of a possibility --improbably,but I read it in some review somewhere-- of some good sex scenes, so I thought I'd give it a try.Surprise, surprise. Ms. Zeidner handles this first person narrative, told by Claire Newbold, sucessful travelling saleswoman of medical supplies, wife of Ken Newbold, cardiothoracic surgeon, former mother of Evan, now dead for three years, with extremely deft perception, humor, and compassion. Nobody who makes an appearance in the book is let off the hook, not Zach, Claire's young lover,she picks up while swimming laps in the pool at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia, not his mother...not his (oh no! oh YES! ) father, and especially not Claire... her pain and semi-breakdown/alienation remind me of another lost soul's: Holden Caulfield. Her intelligence and the extreme oddness of her behavior counterpoint each other until you are gathered so effortlessly into her psyche that her actions make sense, when they shouldn't--and even when SHE herself is pointing that out to you. Very strikingly written book, charming at times, intense at times, sexy at times, sad at times (yes, and at the end, I cried--but not from sadness...), very different and worth your time.

I read this book on a business trip, and it gave the whole time a strange, hyper glow. I may never look at a chain hotel room, or a desk clerk, the same way. Was worried when I saw the word grief--books about dead kids are seriously not my thing--but this is not at all a tearjerker. It's more a meditation on memory, and longing. A very satisfying read.

I was amused by the critic from NY NY who compared this book unfavorably with Salter. Having just finished reading "A Sport and a Pastime" I would say that Salter never gets around first base, whereas Zeidner hits a home run. Layover, by Lisa Zeidner, is misleadingly described in the ads as a spicy tale about a liberated woman who has a romp with every stranger she encounters, as she runs a scam that gives her free hotel rooms. In fact, it's the moving story of a terribly disturbed woman who has lost an infant son in a car crash; her surgeon husband has admitted cheating on her; and she has cracked. On the road in her sales job, she comes to a complete halt, fails to go home or call, stops calling on customers, and spends her time swimming in hotel pools without bothering to check in or out. She seduces an 18-year old boy she meets in the pool, and then asks to meet and have dinner with his mother. Her behavior becomes more and more bizarre, and she knows it. She tracks down the boy's divorced father and seduces him too. But there must come a resolution, and readers will find the conclusion to this story unsurprising but satisfying. All through this poetic, exquisitely written book, we sense the disintegration and confusion the author provides this sassy, humorous, quick-minded but wounded and dependent woman, as well as her anguish as she tries to work her way through her life's major crisis. In the hands of any other author, it might be a soap opera story, but Zeidner, a published poet, makes every word count and every scene come to vivid life.

This fascinating novel gives us a new kind of female character. See the occasional huffy comments here for a sense of just how different, and threatening, Claire Newbold is. This is no standard-issue "women's novel" but a serious, sensual look at some big questions (and also, along the way, great fun).

Lisa Zeidner's LAYOVER is the kind of book you read straight through, hardly stopping to feed yourself or make a trip to the bathroom--it's that good, that engrossing. Zeidner's sparse, beautifully crafted prose is right on the money--the work of an accomplished storyteller and, if this novel is any indication, a closet comedienne. (Let's face it, there simply aren't many writers around who can make you cringe and guffaw in the same breath.) I suspect that Claire Newbold, the novel's grieving, unstable protagonist, will be heralded as the prototypical character for the next century, and as such, she's worth listening to. Kudos to Lisa Zeidner for creating a truly sympathetic character whose behavior we, as readers, may also see fit to condemn (even as Claire runs red light after red light, there we are, slouched in the front seat, glad to be along for the ride). Like the book itself, Claire is smart, funny, and brutally honest. LAYOVER is long overdue.