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Sunset Park finds Paul Auster moving away from the studied complexity that has become his narrative trademark and into a more straightforward mode of storytelling. The shift pays off, as the new novel is one of his most sympathetic and appealing works of fiction. Miles Heller, the book’s protagonist, takes care of foreclosed properties in Florida, but a sketchy romance with a Cuban-American girl forces him to head home suddenly to New York. In Brooklyn, he moves in with four dirt-poor bohemian types, including Ellen, an artist plagued by erotic dreams; Bing, a drummer; and Alice, a grad student. Another unexpected presence in Miles’ life is his father, Morris, with whom he has long been at odds. Morris seems open to renewing his ties with Miles even as he tries to salvage his marriage and keep his business afloat. Auster handles the narrative’s multiple threads deftly, and his depiction of the father-son bond feels authentic. This multilayered portrayal of a group of lost souls explores the universal quest for identity and the precarious nature of relationships—themes Auster continues to explore, after 15 novels, with rich results.

SISTERLY LOVE
The Bird Sisters, Rebecca Rasmussen’s impressive debut, is set in Spring Green, Wisconsin. This sensitively realized novel focuses on elderly sisters Twiss and Milly, who live together in their childhood home. Most days, they nurse injured birds and wander the property, reliving the past. Through flashbacks to the 1940s, their unhappy childhood comes to life. Their father, a professional golfer, is the hope of the family until he’s injured in a car accident. Their mother, daughter of a well-to-do jeweler, abandoned her prosperous prospects to marry him—a decision she regrets. Their union was doomed from the start, and the tragedy plays itself out in the lives of their young daughters. Milly falls for the son of the local doctor, while Twiss becomes something of a scandal. When Bett, their cousin, pays a visit, the girls learn more about love and its awful repercussions than they ever dreamed was possible. Poignant and powerful, this novel about family, memory and love will resonate with fans of literary fiction.

TOP PICK FOR BOOK CLUBS
A virtuoso actor, musician and writer, Steve Martin returns with his third work of fiction, a fascinating look at the contemporary art world. Lacey Yeager is an up-and-coming art dealer in New York City who will do almost anything to reach the top, including sleeping with her clientele and making dubious deals. Her ascent in the business starts at Sotheby’s, and she is soon able to open her own gallery in Chelsea. As she glad-hands her patrons and grows her business, it’s clear Lacey has guts. Her determination to succeed would be admirable if she weren’t so hard to like. A journalist friend of Lacey’s named Daniel Frank narrates the novel, providing commentary on the art world that’s smart, ironic and often hilarious. Martin, a longtime art collector, instills the narrative with convincing detail and dialogue. Fans of his previous work, which includes the best-selling novel Shopgirl, won’t be disappointed in his intriguing portrayal of the art scene.

Some people have all the talent, and Steve Martin appears to be one of the lucky few. An actor, comedian, musician and author, Martin somehow manages the incredible feat of being a master of all trades. Martin's conquest of the publishing world is not a new one, but with his latest novel, An Object of Beauty, he makes it abundantly clear that he is a writer with some serious literary chops.

In the tradition of the great American novel, An Object of Beauty chronicles the rise and fall of a determined dreamer whose aspirations are larger than life. Lacey Yeager is a young woman who enters the 1990s art world working in the bowels of Sotheby's auction house. With dogged persistence, a healthy dose of charisma and some questionable dealings in a bid to get ahead, Lacey's star soon begins to rise as she slowly navigates and ascends to the upper echelons of the New York art scene. Alas, Lacey is very much a creature of an all-too-brief moment in time—dazzling while at her pinnacle, but ultimately embodying an exhilarating moment in art history that cannot be sustained.

Despite its modern setting and concerns, An Object of Beauty is very much an old-fashioned novel at its core, one built on strong storytelling and alluring prose. Martin writes with the confidence and skill of other masters of American letters; the novel could easily hold center stage alongside writers such as Henry James or Edith Wharton, in terms of both content and tone. Lacey Yeager is Lily Bart, or even Jay Gatsby, born anew in modern America. Martin infuses his novel with the gusto and ken of a true art aficionado, yet the story is accessible and enjoyable regardless of the reader's own artistic background. Even if you don't know your Monet from your Manet, much of what Martin writes—like the evanescent American dream—is universal in its appeal.

Having already won awards for his television writing and banjo stylings, it seems only a matter of time before Martin starts earning book awards, too—thanks, in large part, to the remarkable An Object of Beauty.

The NYC art world, seen through the eyes of its most impartial constituents.

In his latest novel, Martin (Born Standing Up, 2007, etc.) unveils an ambitious and heartfelt analysis of both the complexity and absurdity of the Manhattan art market. It begins, appropriately enough, with a confession. "I am tired, so very tired of thinking about Lacey Yeager, yet I worry that unless I write her story down, and see the manuscript bound and tidy on my bookshelf, I will be unable to ever write about anything else." This declaration spills from arts writer David Franks, who finds a small universe encapsulated in the life of his subject, ex-lover Lacey. From this humble beginning, David chronicles the rise and fall of the fine-art market from the late '90s through the present day, complete with record-breaking prices, art thefts and the premature globalization of a complex system. After college, Lacey and David enter the burgeoning artistic world, Lacey as a grunt at Sotheby's, David as a struggling writer. David habitually profiles Lacey, an insanely determined dealer with a passion for creativity and wealth. Martin offers fascinating literary capers, mixing in real-life elements like a fictional run-in with novelist John Updike and the spectacular $500 million dollar theft at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. As Lacey graduates to art speculation and gallery ownership, Martin populates her world with a host of compelling characters, among them a desperately infatuated Parisian broker, a manipulative and powerful mentor, and Pilot Mouse, a minor boyfriend who reinvents himself as a Banksy-like artistic guerrilla. To add to the reader's experience, Martin includes reproductions of artwork referenced in the text, lending another layer of sophistication to an already absorbing story.

An artfully told tale of trade, caste and the obsessive mindset of collectors.

The multitalented comedian, musician, and author of The Pleasure of My Company examines the New York fine arts scene from its late-1990s heyday to the present. Lacey Yeager is an up-and-coming art dealer who uses her beauty, ingenuity, and lack of social conscience to rise from lowly Sotheby's staffer to owner of an exclusive gallery. Daniel Franks, a mild-mannered freelance art writer and Lacey's one-time lover, chronicles her calculated transformation much like Nick Carraway does with Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby—as an outsider, fascinated by an enigmatic woman whom Daniel describes as "curiously, disturbingly guilt-free." VERDICT While the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying and the character of Daniel is marginally pathetic, Lacey is an intriguing puzzle. Some readers may be shocked at the vulgar language and frank sexuality; others will find it honest. Plates of paintings mentioned in the text are a welcome addition. Martin's celebrity alone is reason to purchase this title; his agile musings on art and the business of art will give book clubs much to discuss. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/10.]—Christine Perkins, Bellingham P.L., WA

Martin compresses the wild and crazy end of the millennium and finds in this piercing novel a sardonic morality tale. Lacey Yeager is an ambitious young art dealer who uses everything at her disposal to advance in the world of the high-end art trade in New York City. After cutting her teeth at Sotheby's, she manipulates her way up through Barton Talley's gallery of "Very Expensive Paintings," sleeping with patrons, and dodging and indulging in questionable deals, possible felonies, and general skeeviness until she opens her own gallery in Chelsea. Narrated by Lacey's journalist friend, Daniel Franks, whose droll voice is a remarkable stand-in for Martin's own, the world is ordered and knowable, blindly barreling onward until 9/11. And while Lacey and the art she peddles survive, the wealth and prestige garnered by greed do not. Martin (an art collector himself) is an astute miniaturist as he exposes the sound and fury of the rarified Manhattan art world. If Shopgirl was about the absence of purpose, this book is about the absence of a moral compass, not just in the life of an adventuress but for an entire era. (Nov.)