Fleishman is in trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Anker

A “he said,” “she said,” debut novel reminiscent of Fates and furies, with strong echoes of Philip Roth and other mid-century Jewish authors.  I read it in part because a friend of mine’s daughter-in-law’s sister is the author.  Brodesser-Anker writes very well and the book is hard to put down despite one’s underlying feeling that these privileged, wealthy people sure do whine about their lot in life.  The characters are ultra-rich New Yorkers – Toby Fleishman, the husband in novel, is relatively poor as he is only a well-regarded hepatologist at a major hospital.  He has decided to divorce his wife, Rachel, after fifteen years of marriage because he feels she is wedded to her wildly successful career as founder and head of a talent agency representing major stars.  She shows little interest in him or their two children, Hannah, a pre-teen, and eight-year-old Solly.  Then one morning, Rachel drops off the children at his apartment and fails to pick them up when expected.  She just disappears.  The first section, Toby’s side, is the longest.  Then we get the other Fleishman’s side, Rachel’s.  Overhanging these two stories is a first-person narrator, Libby, a friend of Toby’s from their college years.  She shows up, with little introduction – not even her name is known for a long time – fairly early on in Toby’s section, and this is her story as much as the Fleishmans’.  The book was long-listed for a National Book Award and I recommend it.  373 pp.