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Review title: Cartoon Characters Mar Comedic Novel
Product review: William Boyd's novel about a repressed Englishman trying to break free of his natural shyness and repressive habits is more like a series of set-piece vignettes than a coherent novel. The book has sketches of aggressive New York Jews, tweedy Wasps, evil and dangerous Italians, and impossibly benighted and Gothic Southerners. It's almost as if Boyd gave vent to every nasty prejudice he could mine -- all in the guise of writing a humorous novel. Because his characters' unpleasant aspects are so overdrawn, the resulting characters aren't believable, even in comedy. The only redemptive feature in this otherwise muddy little piece of work is that Boyd has an undeniable imagination, and he manages to write his characters in and out of some funny scrapes. But that strength cannot overcome the novel's fundamental flaw.
