The Epicure's Lament

The Epicure's Lament is a 2004 novel by Kate Christensen. It is about Hugo, a man living by himself at the family home and his interaction with various characters.

The Epicure's Lament
First edition
AuthorKate Christensen
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
Published2004 (Doubleday)
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages351
ISBN9780767910309
OCLC52134834

Reception

In a review of The Epicure's Lament, Salon wrote "The Epicure’s Lament is the result of an ambition so quixotic that you may get quite a few pages into Kate Christensen’s new novel before you decide to sign on for the duration. .. characters with voices so strong and attitudes so egregious that reading about them becomes a long, tricky balancing act between the reflexive sympathy we feel for whoever tells us a story and our suspicion that we’re dealing with a rather bad man." and concluded "The Epicure’s Lament becomes funnier the more Hugo begins to engage with the people he purports to loathe, and the more it becomes clear he’s not quite ready to leave yet. Why an author would set herself the formidable task of creating such a creature — and then convincing us to like him — is a bit puzzling, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?"[1] and The New York Times called it "readable, but it's also clever to a fault and often static."[2]

The Epicure's Lament has also been reviewed by Library Journal,[3] Booklist,[4] January Magazine,[5] Kirkus Reviews,[6] and Publishers Weekly.[7]

References
  1. Laura Miller (March 9, 2004). ""The Epicure's Lament" by Kate Christensen". salon.com. Salon Media Group Inc. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  2. Sittenfeld, Curtis (February 22, 2004). "Books in Brief: Fiction: The Epicure's Lament". New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  3. "The Epicure's lament: a novel: Reviews". catalog.wccls.org. Retrieved February 5, 2017. Christensen (In the Drink) has produced a mordantly comic romp led by a protagonist who often seems like a cross between Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces and a Nabokov antihero.
  4. "The Epicure's lament : a novel". Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Retrieved February 5, 2017. Unexpectedly charming in some places, absolutely dastardly in others, Hugo is an utterly unforgettable character.
  5. Edward Champion. "Juicy Triumph". januarymagazine.com. Retrieved February 5, 2017. a juicy triumph, laced with laughs and behavioral tics which supersede its loose structural trappings. Christensen may be writing on impulse, but impulse isn't always as consistently witty as this.
  6. "The Epicure's Lament (starred review)". Kirkus Media LLC. Retrieved February 5, 2017. First-rate adult entertainment, as they say, and Christensen's most impressive yet.
  7. "The Epicure's Lament (starred review)". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz LLC. November 17, 2003. Retrieved February 4, 2017. This is an impressive tome, one that tickles the funny bone and feeds the mind.
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