By Louis Begley

As he attempts to make his existence liveable again--after the devastating lack of his wife--retired attorney Albert Schmidt reveals the potential for regeneration in a brand new love the outdated "Schmidtie" could by no means have dreamt of. Set within the Hamptons and Mahnattan, and laced with black humor, approximately Schmidt casts a chilly, pitiless eye at the japanese seaboard top category, the final vestiges of once-ascendant WASPs, and the beginners whose fortunes are rising.

BONUS: This variation contains an excerpt from Louis Begley's Memories of a Marriage.

Show description

Read or Download About Schmidt (Ballantine Reader's Circle) PDF

Similar historical fiction books

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey

Alison Weir, our pre-eminent well known historian, has now fulfilled a life's ambition to jot down old fiction. She has selected as her topic the bravest, such a lot sympathetic and wronged heroine of Tudor England, woman Jane gray. woman Jane gray used to be born into instances of maximum chance. baby of a scheming father and a ruthless mom, for whom she used to be basically a pawn in a dynastic strength video game with the top stakes, she lived a existence in thrall to political machinations and deadly non secular fervour.

The Glassblower (The Glassblower Trilogy, Book 1)

Within the village of Lauscha in Germany, issues were performed a similar manner for hundreds of years. the boys blow the glass, and the ladies beautify and pack it. but if Joost Steinmann passes away abruptly one September evening, his 3 daughters needs to learn how to fend for themselves. whereas feisty Johanna takes a pragmatic method of searching for paintings, Ruth follows her middle, aiming to capture the attention of a good-looking younger villager.

The Eagle's Prophecy (Eagle, Book 6)

It's spring forty five advert and Centurions Macro and Cato, pushed aside from the second one Legion in Britain, are trapped in Rome, looking forward to their involvement within the demise of a fellow officer to be investigated. it's then that the imperial secretary, the devious Narcissus, makes them a suggestion they can't refuse: to rescue an imperial agent who has been captured by way of pirates working from the Illyrian coast.

Zoot-Suit Murders

Like his lavishly praised novels Rabbit Boss and Mile 0, Thomas Sanchez's Zoot-Suit Murders combines a tautly arched narrative with fiercely visible prose and a starkly revisionist view of the yank melting pot.

Extra resources for About Schmidt (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Sample text

Nicely put! Thanks for the old-fashioned sentiment. Congratulations! You are the first to know, Al. I haven’t even told my parents. Schmidt disliked being called Al, slightly preferring Albert, which was his given name and, therefore, couldn’t be helped. He wondered why Riker wasn’t handling him better. A tiff with Charlotte over breakfast, while the paternal heart was breaking in the cellar? Getting even, because of the bizarre flashback to the days when, as a young associate, he had been afraid of Schmidt?

Don’t they crush glasses at Jewish weddings for good luck? I guess I’m getting in practice. He looked at Jon. You’ve got a long way to go, Al! It’s the groom who crushes the glass with his foot, not the disappointed father with his hand, and the bride and the groom first drink wine out of it. Remember, wine not blood. Jews aren’t big on drinking human blood, but they’re very big on guilt. So they drink the wine to show that they are about to experience the greatest possible joy, and right away the man has to break the glass, as a reminder of the destruction of the temple.

He wondered why Riker wasn’t handling him better. A tiff with Charlotte over breakfast, while the paternal heart was breaking in the cellar? Getting even, because of the bizarre flashback to the days when, as a young associate, he had been afraid of Schmidt? Second thoughts? Then pick up the telephone. It’s past ten. And don’t use your credit card. Thanks, Al. I’ll do it from the room. That way I’ll catch Charlotte before she comes downstairs and will get her to speak to them too. Do that. Since when do you call me Al?

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.01 of 5 – based on 5 votes