Renata Adler. 
 
Random House: 1976. First edition. Octavo. Small tears and shelfwear along the top and bottom of the jacket. Back flap of the jacket has two small folds. Minor bumping along the top and bottom of the book's boards. Fading along the top and bottom of the boards. Slight soiling on the top edge of the text block. Trace soiling on the attached endpaper. 178 pages. Very good. 
 
A first edition part of the American late '70s fiction scene, when masterpieces by young brilliant writers of New York persuasion were breaking out and stirring up controversy. Adler moved from journalism to the novel, eliminating the differences between the two that we took for granted but rewarding our lazy categorizing with delight. Didion and D.F. Wallace both called this wild tapestry an all-time favorite. Autobiographically inspired anecdotes of teaching and political work, scenes of growing up and of flying lessons, overheard conversations, and reportage on the sea - it may be that behind them all there's no Story except their bewildering mixture. 
 
“Every love story, every commercial trade, every secret, every matter in which trust is involved, is a gentle transaction of hostages. Everything is, to a degree, in the custody of every other thing. Blackmail, kidnapping, then, are among the extreme violations of the deal. Anyway, I seem to be about to have Jim's child; at least, I think I will, and the thing is I haven't mentioned it to Jim.”