Review: Indiscretion by Charles Dubow

Title: Indiscretion
Author: Charles Dubow
Format: ARC
Publish Date: February 5, 2013 (Today!)
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan.
• You like your characters flawed but interesting.
• You like books like The Great Gatsby.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "We’ve all been around a couple who can engulf the attention of an entire room merely by occupying it. Harry and Madeleine Winslow are that set; the natural ease between them is palpable and their chemistry is almost tangible. He is a recent National Book Award winner with a promising career ahead of him, and she is blessed with family money, but radiates beauty, elegance, and humility. Whether they are abroad in Italy after he receives the Rome Prize, in their ambrosial East Hampton home, or in gritty Manhattan, they are always surrounded by close friends and those who wish to penetrate their inner circle. During a summer spent at the beach, they meet 26 year-old Claire and, as the summer blazes on, she is slowly inducted into their world. Claire can’t help but fall in love with Harry and Maddy and at the end of the summer, it is no longer enough to just be one of their hangers-on. Told through the omniscient eyes of Maddy’s childhood friend Walter, Indiscretion is a juicy, page turning novel with writing that is sophisticated and lyrical. Deeply textured, full of light and darkness, and overwhelmingly sensual, this book will be the sexiest, most intimate story you read all year."

My Two Cents:

Wow! "Indiscretion" was a really good read. This book really boils down to showing how one really bad, ill-advised decision can totally derail not only one life but many lives surrounding that one person. It's a universal story that has been told before but the way that Dubow does it in this book breathes new life into this story.

Almost all of the characters in this book are flawed. They aren't happy characters but this is not a happy book. This is the sort of book that makes you think and these are the sort of characters that I don't think any of us would really like to end up like. They are also characters that you will not want to stop reading about. Dubow does a great job with bringing the main characters to life. These could be people that you know in real life.

There is Harry, the award winner writer, who seems to have it all. He has a great career and a great family. He seems happy until he makes the decision that seems to seal the fates of the main characters in the story. There is beautiful Maddy, Harry's wife, who just seems to be along for the ride in a lot of parts of the book. Even though she seems incredibly steady and stable, she is totally taken off course because of Harry and never recovers. There is Claire, who wants more, always more. And then there is Walter, who may be the most complicated but fascinating character of the bunch, and he is the childhood friend of Maddy and who never really got over her rejection and yet he hangs in the background and makes Maddy's family his pseudo family. He seems to both be happy and sad that Harry and Maddy's family has been torn apart. I really wanted to know more about Walter's inner workings but wasn't left disappointed when more detail never came. In a way, I think it was sort of cool as the reader to have the freedom to come up with your own speculation about Walter, his emotions, and his motives.

It is very cool to me that this is Dubow's debut novel. The writing is so good! It's clean but descriptive. His writing is not particularly flowery and in some spots, it is quite stark. There are a couple passages that I loved so much that I had to flag them with a post-it (for me, this is a sign of true book love). Even though part of the enjoyment in this book is the twists and turns Dubow gives the reader, I can see myself wanting to read this book again in the future just to re-live the experience.

The book does talk a lot about an affair and there is sex in this book (not a lot) and some of that sex is graphic (an even smaller amount); however, it is not gratuitous. It did not bother me in the least but I figure that I should give you all fair warning since some people don't care for that sort of thing.

Bottom line: This was a very good read and I can't wait to see what Dubow comes out with next.