Zeidner, Lisa

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Want good or great "chick lit"? Stick with Jane Austen.
Terrible!
Sex as an Rx for cynicism
Poignant
The kindness of strangers

Layover
Lisa Zeidner , and Random House Inc.
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060956496
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Amazon.com

Writing about grief has been the death of many a novelist--artistically speaking, that is. Even the most earnest attempts to describe this taxing and tenacious emotion can dip into bathos and rhetorical wire-pulling. In Layover, however, Lisa Zeidner gives grief its due, and does so with such wit and high style that the reader's (occasional) tears are mixed with a kind of elation. Exactly what is Claire Newbold mourning? Mostly the death of her young son, which has taken place some time before the novel opens. In response, she's withdrawn from her husband (a no-less-shattered surgeon) and her job (a sales rep for a medical-supplies company), allowing herself just the faintest purchase on her old existence: "Right now, I realize, I was just floating. Trying to float. Skimming over my life, letting life tickle my feet. I had no plans to glide off entirely." Gliding off entirely, however, is exactly what she does after learning of a single infidelity on her husband's part. In the middle of a business trip she cuts off all contact with home and lurches into a sex-and-self-discovery spree.

Sneaking in and out of hotel rooms without registering--which, let's face it, is the final eradication of identity for any business traveler--Claire first seduces an 18-year-old, then manages to get in bed with the boy's father. Zeidner records these trysts with superb, hypersensitive relish, finding fresh ways to write about that topic, too. "Sex is a story you know the ending of," she notes. "More or less the same story with the same ending, every time. Yet we want to keep hearing it, the way a child listens to a fairy tale, vigilant for variation." Still, Layover is anything but a bedroom farce. As Claire bounces between erotic encounters, she is unraveling before our eyes, and Zeidner's real subject turns out to be not body but soul: <blockquote> I'd discovered grief's trade secret: once you burrow that deep into yourself, you simply have a better nose for pain. Truth is, hardly anyone is happy. Not even the people with nothing wrong. They're all hunkered down in the bunker of self, in self's fragile failure. </blockquote> There is so much to praise in Layover that it's hard to know where to start, or to stop. It's diabolically funny, deeply intelligent, and surely the best work of hotel- or motel-room anthropology since Humbert Humbert did his cross-country trek. At one point, however, Claire ascribes a kind of clairvoyance to herself: she can see into people, she claims, while their souls "glow phosphorescent, as if X-rayed by the baggage-check machine." Zeidner has a similar, semi-radiant insight into human behavior--and hers, of course, is anything but a delusion. --James Marcus

Book Description

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, she may be infertile, and her husband has had an affair.

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. She even comes to believe she is clairvoyant, able to "read" into the souls of others. Eventually she begins to see into her own soul as she ponders whether or not to return home. As she struggles to repair her marriage and her life, Claire surprises herself -- and us -- by emerging with a new sense of redemption.

Customer Reviews:

Want good or great "chick lit"? Stick with Jane Austen........2005-04-29

This was my first look into the increasingly popular "chick lit" fiction arena. It's also become my last, because this was one terrible book. Words fail to describe, and I can't bring myself to recall the dull, lifeless, insipid text.

Should I allow one bad reading experience to keep me from the genre? Perhaps, if you consider the praise heaped on this clunker! Instead, if you're into semi-fictional accounts of women, adolescent or otherwise, stick with Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. They are referred to as "classics" for all the best reasons.

Terrible!.......2005-03-23

The only reason I did not give this book one star is because the beginning of it was very well-written. Had the tone and pacing remained the same, it could have been great. However, the middle and end of the book were atrocious! The author was attempting to wax philosophic in a gritty, detatched voice, but merely succeeded in writing a story completely devoid of plot or purpose. I agree with the reviewer who said that mothers who had lost a child would find this book insulting. Yes, everyone deals with loss in different ways, but bedding a teenager AND his father as a means to heal the pain is just disturbing. I kept hoping there was a padded room and a straight jacket waiting for her at the end of the book. I would have been satisfied if she'd ended up with a prescription for Xanax; after reading this book I feel like I need one!

Sex as an Rx for cynicism.......2003-09-30

Lisa Zeidner's "Layover" is lean and more than a little mean, largely because it's from the point of view of Zeidner's first-person protagonist, Claire Newbold, whose only child was killed in a car accident some time before the story begins. It's about battling the urge to escape from grief into cynicism, but don't be put off. Zeidner has a light touch and a sharp sense of humor, and she'ss anything but maudlin.

Claire is middle-aged, a traveling saleswoman of high-tech medical supplies. Early in the novel she begins a hotel-hopping journey of self-discovery that jeopardizes her job, marriage and sanity. What sets her off is a confession by her surgeon husband that he has had an affair with a woman colleague, and what helps bring her back from the brink are sexual encounters with an 18-year-old boy and then with the boy's father. Zeidner manages to make both encounters believable.

There's good dialogue and sharply amusing observations about American life at the end of the 20th century, but the biggest surprise is the skill with which Zeidner writes about sex. "Layover" is playfully and insightfully erotic, a quality most American writers can't seem to imagine, let alone capture on the page.

I didn't quite like Claire - she's smug and intolerant of human frailties, a vagabond with a big bank account - but I believed her grief and admired the way Zeidner handled her struggle to overcome the sense that she and everyone else are doomed to suffer in solitude. Claire wants to return to normal life but is plagued by the feeling that she knew her husband "so well I couldn't see him anymore. I knew him the way I knew myself. All of our years together - they weren't money in the bank. They were cash in a mattress that could burn."

"Layover" is funny and sad, smart and brave. Read it if you like fiction that explores what it means to be human.

Poignant.......2003-06-30

This book was not what I expected it to be, necessarily. It wasn't one of those books to be read in a single sitting, but the story really drew me in. I thought that the character development was brilliant, as least as far as Claire was concerned. I genuinely wanted to know what was going on in her mind and what was going to happen to her next. This book is very insightful, and written very cleverly. I know that I won't hesitate to read other works by Zeidner.

The kindness of strangers.......2002-10-28

People express grief in different ways."Layover" is the story of a grieving woman--41 year-old Claire Newbold--whose young child, Evan, recently died. Claire is a travelling saleswoman, married to a surgeon who admonishes her that "she needs to feel connected," and then confesses to an affair at the worst possible moment. Reeling from the knowledge of her husband's affair while still in the grief process, Claire undergoes a breakdown. She steps out of her life one day, and soon finds that it is not easy to return--even if she wants to.

Once outside of her life, Claire discovers that she can pretend to be anything she wants, and she begins to engage in odd behaviour. Using her knowledge of hotels, she begins a odyssey of self-discovery that includes sexual encounters with strangers, memories of her lost son, and a one-sided conversation with "the other woman."

I really enjoyed this book. It was original, and despite the subject matter, it was not a depressing read. Some readers may be offended by the sexual content. To me, the book simply reiterated the fact that you never know what hell the person standing right in front of you may be going through. This book was thought provoking. I recommend it, and I will look for other books by Zeidner in the future--displacedhuman

Brandywine: A Legacy of Tradition in Du Pont-Wyeth Country

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Extraordinarily Well Done!

Brandywine: A Legacy of Tradition in Du Pont-Wyeth Country
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: Lickle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565660803

Customer Reviews:

Extraordinarily Well Done!.......1999-03-22

As a displaced native of the Brandywine Valley and a frequent visitor, I found this book to be a delicious portrayal of a unique area. The photography is generous, rich and superb. The reader feels as if he is truly a part of the spectacular rolling hills and historic homes that make the Brandywine a treasure. The text is informative and accurate. After reading this book, one will indeed have an "insider's" view of the region and its special composition of residents, history and natural beauty. Through many years, I have collected several volumes related to the Brandywine Valley. This one is by far my favorite. I have purchased several copies as gifts for friends who cherish the area as much as I, many of whom are long-time residents of the region. They all have related their pleasure and joy with the content of the book. In summation, an excellent effort which I highly recommend. Well done! William Sydnor

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Dynamic and interesting but not always appetizing.

Limited Partnerships: A Novel
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: North Point Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Dynamic and interesting but not always appetizing. .......2007-01-24

You have to give Zeidner credit for how very different this book is from her close to bestseller Layover. Although there is one similar focus- how to con the system, either purposefully or "accidentally" (in Layover, it's hotel rooms, in Limited Partnerships it's banks...) the style is VERY different. More detailed, less first-person narration, more intertwined weaved in subplots. I have to wonder if the clunky name of this book isn't what kept people from buying more copies. In any case, it reminded me a bit stylistically of the author of "Virgin Suicides" and "Middlesex."

My complaints?
1) Overall, it needed a more romantic tone. The dry humor doesn't work so well in this book- it makes the characters lives seem unimportant.
2) The characters themselves came across as tacky.

Pocket Sundial (Brittingham Prize in Poetry (Series).)

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Pocket Sundial (Brittingham Prize in Poetry (Series).)
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: Univ of Wisconsin Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Alexander Freed
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: KNOPF
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000R0DTN8

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PAINTED BRIDE QUARTERLY #34
Louis, and Joanna DiPaolo, Eds:Tom Koontz, Lynda Schraufnagel, Steven Huff, George Young, Naomi Shihab Nye, Dieter Weslowski, Lisa Zeidner, David Slavitt, Linda Dyer, Lamont Steptoe, Fritz Hamilton Michael Little, Ann Michael, Simon Perchik, et al. CAMP
Manufacturer: Painted Bride Art Center
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IZMP14

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Talking cure : poems
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: Texas Tech Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0896720942

BOULEVARD, Journal of Contemporary Writing Vol. 1 No. 1-2 (Winter 1986)

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BOULEVARD, Journal of Contemporary Writing Vol. 1 No. 1-2 (Winter 1986)
Richard, Editor (Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kenneth Koch, Tama Janowitz, Fred Chappell, Joe David Bellamy, Tom Disch, David Lehman, Mark Rudman, Carol Schloss, David Suter, Angela Bell, Molly Peacock, Lisa Zeidner, Jonathan Baumbach, et al) BURGIN
Manufacturer: Opojaz, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I5Q1BE

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Layover
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: RANDOM HOUSE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SECBVE

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question to the author

Alexandra Freed: A novel
Lisa Zeidner
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Customer Reviews:

question to the author.......2004-03-06

I have a roommate bearing the same name as your title. I believe in fate and karma. That names belong to one but share similarities with others. I am interested in learning more about your story of alexandra but this site is very,very vague. I have a feeling that this book could resemble her life in someone elses life. Please mail me a description of your book and where i can acquire a copy.

jtaylor420@shaw.ca

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