by Henry Roth
First published 1997
Ira Stigman sits in his aging body, physically frail but mentally sharp, as he reconstructs the passionate love triangle that defined his youth in 1920s Manhattan. The elderly writer finds himself caught between memory and mortality, using his craft to revisit the intoxicating literary world of his younger days. As Stigman delves deeper into this romantic entanglement from decades past, he discovers that recreating these vivid scenes offers him something unexpected: a path toward peace with his approaching death. The vibrant energy of Jazz Age New York pulses through his recollections, bringing to life the writers, lovers, and dreamers who shaped his early years. Through this act of literary resurrection, Stigman transforms his final chapter into something more than mere reminiscence. His journey through past passion becomes a meditation on how love and art can provide comfort even as life draws to its close.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, biographical-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan
Period: 1920s
420 pages · Paperback · Picador