Hearst-Case Scenario

Strangely, if remaining in the reader's mind is the definition of a well-drawn character, and even though she only has a bit role, Lydia Galton (Tania's mother) steals the show from her daughter toward the end of the book. Here is a scene between Guy Mock, Lydia Galton and Hank Galton (Mr. Hearst):

"[GUY:] 'More information has come to light.'

"[LYDIA:] 'And what would you like in exchange for this information?'

"[HANK:] 'Lydia. Guy freely offered information to us last time.'

"[LYDIA:] 'Isn't that how pushers work? The first time's always free?'

"[HANK:] 'Apparently you know more about that than I.'

"Guy gazes wistfully at the icy dregs in the bottom of his glass.

"Lydia says, 'Oh, don't pretend to be embarrassed. You don't have to put on a phony display of discomfiture.' "

Such tightness, such icy interplay, shows Sorrentino's possibilities. But something is wrong if Tania's mother is more interesting than Tania. Amazing facts and compulsive observations hide the reality that the novelist only infrequently connects with his characters' hearts. After half the SLA dies in the shoot-out with police early in this book, Sorrentino takes four full pages in the section titled "Threnody" to address Tania's father directly, giving him a guided tour of the autopsy room with such sentences as: "Would you have guessed, Mr. Galton, that burned corpses possessed so many specific traits . . . ? Were you surprised to learn . . . that even the most badly burned corpses routinely present with organs that are more or less intact? That the fluid level in the organs and body cavities prevents total incineration?" Mr. Galton thinks he has just lost his child; why not use these four pages to explore his affections rather than drag us through the scientific and repellant minutiae of the autopsy room?

In the end, this is a case of the novelist as a trendy but rather chilly genius, more impressed with his own voice than the humanity of his characters. ·

Tom Paine is the author of "The Pearl of Kuwait," a novel of the Gulf War, and "Scar Vegas," a collection of stories.