by Tim O'Brien
Surely there are mature and proper ways for a man to react when his wife leaves him for a richer man. But Thomas Chippering will have none of them—which is what makes this latest novel by Tim O'Brien (In the Lake of the Woods) such a riotous good time. The Minnesota linguistics professor and Lorna Sue, his wife of 20 years, are vacationing in Florida when she befriends "a certain hairy gentleman" whose name Chippering now refuses to utter. Their rift sets off a midlife crisis that forces our hero to delve into his troubled, if comical, boyhood. Torn between winning back his wife and following the whims of his own libido, Chippering enlists the assistance of his own new flame, who is also married, in an effort to sabotage Lorna Sue's happy new life. (He also loses his job and tries to find work as Captain Nineteen, a public-access TV superhero.) Crazy? Indeed, Chippering's sanity remains an open question, but there's no doubt O'Brien tells one entertaining tale. (Broadway, $26)
Bottom Line: Laugh-a-page adventures of a dumped husband on the rebound
Your Reaction
