"Titled after a line from Henry James, The Abyss of Human Illusion consists of fifty narrative set pieces full of savage humor and cathartic passion - an elegiac paean to the grimly comic, unsentimental, and quintessentially American world Gilbert Sorrentino so brilliantly captured in his long and storied career."--Book jacket.

Picturing Will, the widely acclaimed new novel by Ann Beattie, unravels the complexities of a postmodern family. There's Will, a curious five-year-old who listens to the heartbeat of a plant through his toy stethoscope; Jody, his mother, a photographer poised on the threshold of celebrity; Mel, Jody's perfect -- perhaps too perfect -- lover; and Wayne, the rather who left Will without warning and now sees his infrequent visits as a crimp in his bedhopping....

Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life--except when there's a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora's dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the...

"Magazine editor Jane Avery spends her nights alone with Netflix and Oreos--until the Dress turns her loose. Suddenly she's surrendering to dark desires, and New York City has become her erotic playground. But what began as a fantasy will go too far, and her next conquest could be her last."--provided by the publisher.