The Lake Shore Limited Get it now!

Although I found this a beautifully written book and was generally engrossed by it, I didn't like the character Billie from the onset and had problems with what seemed a central current of selfishness and lack of empathy that cropped up in nearly everyone. Though these characters may feel love for others or say they're `in love,' most of them seem to think mainly of themselves and be buffeted by their own perceptions and issues. Even Leslie, who's presumably in a loving marriage and a very giving person, calmly considers what her life would be like if her husband died--would she get a job? move to Paris? And this as they lie warmly together in bed after making love!

That doesn't resonate with me at all, and neither did Billie's ongoing dishonesty about her relationship with Gus.I can see a character like her as realistic, but I didn't find her as sympathetic as I think the author does, and her predicament seemed almost entirely of her own making, to hold her tongue as she did about her legitimate feelings largely because of a need for housing. Then to write the play she did and not even prepare Leslie for the content and to joke about her "great creds" (credentials) to write about 9-11 seemed incredibly insensitive but was not really portrayed as such.

All and all, these people, though in their forties and fifties, seemed younger to me and not to have found much of the more selfless love and understanding that can develop through the crucibles of parenthood and long-term relationships. Nevertheless, I found the book very readable and really liked the diverse points of view, skillful use of language, revealing interior monologues (or much of them), evocative descriptions, and wonderful wit that permeated the whole. I just wish the characters or some of them had more wisdom to share or grew to find more in their trials. Everyone's response to caring for another dying, dependent, or no-longer-'lovable' partner seemed too much the same in a universe of possibilities, and being honest with a significant other rarely seemed to figure in the mix.
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