The Current Climate
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Screenwriter Harry Towns continues his misadventures in this novel from a New York Times–bestselling author and “witty chronicler of urban angst” (San Francisco Chronicle).
Set in late-1980s New York, this novel continues the story of Harry Towns—who is well into his fifties and is feeling increasingly out of place in the world, but doesn’t let that stop him from pursuing success as a playwright (or at least making some quick cash by selling a TV series). He has a second wife and a young daughter, but he doesn’t let that stop him from bedding the occasional hooker (and getting mugged along the way). It isn’t easy getting older, but Harry plugs along. The only thing that truly paralyzes him is trying to decide whether to get tickets to Cats . . .
“A triumph . . . Hilarious.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Harry Towns, like his creator, shows in the end . . . amazing resilience, inventiveness, hope and good humor.” —The Washington Post
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The titular subject of Friedman's 1972 About Harry Towns returns, older (57) but hardly wiser; in fact, Harry's honest bemusement at the workings of a world he no longer recognizes provides this uneven novel with its ripest comic moments. Despite a patient second wife and a new daughter, Harry finds that old habits die hard, especially when they include venturesome debauches with hookers and hoods in New York City. In Hollywood, Harry pitches screenplay ideas to studio executives whose healthy lifestyles and herculean work habits aren't part of the show biz world that he remembers. Even Harry's psychiatrist of 27 years seems suddenly out of joint, given to fainting spells and trips to the hairdresser. Though funny scene by scene, Friedman's portrait of Harry grows more scattershot and erratic as the novel progresses, detouring into the '50s for a witty depiction of a creative writing class, then returning to the present for a hasty resolution. Friedman's considerable gifts as a comic writer (he also wrote The Lonely Guy's Book of Life ) are never fully manifested here.
