A Few Corrections

From The Critics

Leithauser's fifth novel begins with the obituary of a Midwestern businessman that offers little to distinguish itself from scads of other notices appearing each day in dailies across the nation. This charming and elegant book traces the life of Wesley Sultan, a small-scale romeo who worked for the same shipping company his entire adult life. Each chapter begins with Sultan's obituary reprinted, each time with a handmade correction written in the margins until, by the end of the book, there appears a newly complicated, less antiseptic, rendering of Wesley's life. The polite, abbreviated biography presented in the obituary columns can say little of the things that truly defined an individual, but perhaps the saddest and most poignant moments in this novel are realized when it becomes apparent how little those closest to Wesley knew about him. With deftness and warmth, Leithauser dignifies Wesley's setbacks and minor victories while highlighting the futility of attempting to know completely another person's world. "The loss of anybody who once, in his own local corner of the cosmos, threw off something of a glow is no small-time tragedy," the author concludes.
—Kevin Greenberg

(Excerpted Review)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Brad Leithauser (The Friends of Freeland) has been compared to John Updike in the past, but in his latest novel he seems to be getting his cues from a realist of an earlier generation, John O'Hara. The novel takes up a cute premise: Wesley Sultan's obituary, published in the Restoration, Mich., Oracle, is not entirely accurate. Wesley's son, Luke a former investment adviser in Manhattan, now on a quest to understand the father he never really knew corrects it, heading each chapter with a copy of the obituary and the marginal notes that he's accumulated. Wes; Wes's brother, Conrad; and Wes's sister, Adelle, grew up in a family fallen on hard times. When he was 17, Wes dropped out of high school and got a lifetime job with Great Bay Shipping. But his real vocation was seduction Wes was the quintessential lady's man. Sally, his first wife and Luke's mother, divorced him for his incorrigible faithlessness; she is now a relatively rich widow, inheriting around $900,000 from her second husband, a doctor named Gordon. As Luke shuttles between Sally, on vacation in France; Conrad, in retirement in Miami; and Adelle, he becomes as much a protagonist as Wes. But neither Luke nor Wes are infused with the kind of Dreiserian energy necessary to power this tale of middle American hopes and disappointments. Sally and Conrad are the live wires in the book: Conrad is fat and dying, and cantankerous as a goat; Sally is happier and wiser now that she is finally able to do just what she wants. Despite its charismatic supporting players, Leithauser's cleverly conceived novel lacks a strong protagonist, and ultimately caves in on its empty center. (Apr. 17) Forecast: Respected poet and novelist Leithauser is in a bit of a slump. The response to his last novel (The Friends of Freeland) and collection of poetry (The Odd Last Thing She Did) was lukewarm at best, and it seems unlikely this well-crafted but listless tale will change reviewers' or book purchasers' tunes. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.