The Act of Love by Howard Jacobson

"British novelist Jacobson is carving out a niche as the chronicler par excellence of warped, obsessive behavior. In Kalooki Nights, obsession with the Holocaust led his characters to unspeakable acts. Now Jacobson writes about obsessive sexual love that translates jealousy into joy. Felix Quinn is so in love with his wife, Marisa, that her affairs with other men become his highest form of fulfillment. He therefore arranges for her to meet the perfect lover. That his plan works, and at the same time causes misery to everyone, is inevitable. Felix's narrative of love and loss is not only twisted but also witty, and the novel is not only literary but also literate-it's peppered with writerly allusions from Herodotus to James Joyce, artistic allusions from Fragonard to Lawrence, and musical allusions from Schubert to the tango."

~ Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.