Filed under: Uncategorized
I reviewed Sam Lipsyte’s highly anticipated third novel The Ask over at at Time Out New York.
“Lipsyte’s attack is two-pronged: Sentences here are syntactic marvels, clearly labored over, yet the delivery is effortless. Milo’s riffs, even those only loosely tethered to the plot, are well worth the ride…Lipsyte’s brand of absurdity is deeply rooted in the now. The recession, text messaging, reality TV—all are up for grabs. What’s particularly effective is his acerbic yet subtle approach. Milo scoffs at love (revisiting, hilariously, a disastrous orgy in Greenpoint), at modern parenthood, at his taste in Internet porn (Milo’s favorite site is Spreadsheet Spreaders, where men pleasure their female employers for “raises up to 20%”). But he’s never simply bitter; one can always sense a yearning in this book, even at its most acidic moments.”
I wanted to work in this great line about Milo masturbating seed likely containing a “sullen autist” into a tube sock, but these TONY reviews are pretty short…
