Layover

Claire Newbold is not your typical heroine. Smart and sexy, yes, but she's also been known to sneak into a hotel room or two without paying, seduce a teenager in wet bathing trunks, and just check out of things altogether - like her job. And her marriage. No wonder, though. Claire's been careening off heartbreak. Her only child has died. On the discovery her husband has had an affair, she takes leave of absence from her everyday life, and her behaviour drifts from illicit to erratic. No longer a mother, not sure she wants to be a wife, Claire moves from hotel to hotel, basking in the anonymity of travel and forbidden sex. As she struggles to understand her marriage and her life, she surprises herself - and us - by emerging with a new sense of redemption.

About the Author :
LISA ZEIDNER has published five novels, including the critically acclaimed Layover, and two books of poems. Her stories, reviews, and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, GQ, Tin House, and elsewhere. She directs the M.F.A. program in creative writing at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey.

Review :
Layover, is the tale of Claire Newbold, who having just lost a baby walks out of her marriage for the anonymous thrill of travel and no-strings sex when what she's really looking for lies far closer to home An astute study of a woman... struggling to make sense of what her life has become and seeking redemption in the process A thoughtful and highly impactful exploration of alienation Witty and accomplished, Layover is an impressive piece of fiction Very powerful... explores grief, marriage and life through its entertaining and emotional heroine There is an honest fragility to the sometimes sharp but always authentic prose with its undercurrent of grief and subtle need - a well-structured and engaging read Subtle, astute [...] With Layover, Zeidner joins the ranks of Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood and Fay Weldon. Zeidner's writing is like her heroine: taut, intelligent, and seductive. Marvelous. . . Layover is that rarest of books, one to be read again and again. The psychic death, and rebirth, of a saleswoman, Layover is a chillingly modern pilgrimage: rental cars and anonymous rooms in franchise hotels, crisp bills from automated tellers, the music of e-mail chimes and electronic pagers. Lisa Zeidner writes with the precision and the ear of the poet she is. In this spirited, original take on the subject of prolonged grief, Zeidner presents a moving portrait of a woman who reclaims her life through passion and humor [...] Zeidner skillfully charts the map of Claire's vulnerable heart, eschewing the maudlin. Instead, she offers titillating-and sometimes funny-sex, and a wicked sendup of contemporary life, deconstructing the men whose professions give them a false sense of aggrandizement and the women who live with them. Intelligent, sarcastic, and slightly unhinged, Claire is a fascinating character. Zeidner has done a wonderful job of capturing the dark night of the soul that comes to virtually all of us eventually by exploring the depths of Claire's grief and anger without once slipping into melodrama or cliche. A sharp and wryly moving portrait of a woman in the midst of a breakdown [...] A wise and satisfying read.