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A Gambler's Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem

Literary fiction

A Gambler's Anatomy

by Jonathan Lethem

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Quick take

I’ve worked with geniuses, scoundrels and scumbags, and have said it before, but it bears repeating: I’ve seen some shit.

Why I love it

I’ve travelled through most parts of the world, eaten in some of its greatest restaurants and cooked in some decidedly terrible ones, with many, many stops in between. I’ve worked with geniuses, scoundrels and scumbags, and have said it before, but it bears repeating: I’ve seen some shit.

Though success is always nice to witness, and even nicer to achieve, I’m also fascinated and gratified by stories of big falls into gloriously wrenching failure and defeat. Such is the story of Bruno Alexander, the protagonist of Jonathan Lethem’s A Gambler’s Anatomy.

When we first encounter Bruno Alexander, he’s a handsome, vain, highly-intelligent hustler at the top of his game, which is backgammon. He’s won vast sums of cash by beating some of the world’s richest men, in casinos and gentlemen’s clubs and private drawing rooms where drinks are served by silent women in fetish gear. Bruno also happens to have telepathic powers, a stroke of literary magical thinking that Lethem uses to subtle, ultimately brilliant effect.

Read our exclusive Q&A with Guest Judge Anthony Bourdain here

But then, as Yeats and Achebe and countless others have observed, things fall apart. Bruno loses in Singapore; he loses in Berlin. He discovers a tumor behind his eyes. Broke and broken, he returns to Berkeley, California, his now-unrecognizable hometown, to undergo experimental neurosurgery requiring the removal and destruction of his attractive face in order to save his life. Footing the bill is Bruno’s boyhood friend Keith, a sniveling and jealous embodiment of schadenfreude who is only too happy to use his wealth in insidious ways. Having started his journey as a teenaged waiter at Chez Panisse, Bruno finds himself, many decades and thousands of miles later, flipping burgers back home and trying to rebuild his life.

What becomes of a middle-aged man who appears to have lost it all? In Lethem’s hands, Bruno’s trajectory is wrenching, hilarious, and oddly familiar, a wholly entertaining tragicomedy by a master of his craft.

Read our exclusive Q&A with Guest Judge Anthony Bourdain here

Member ratings (657)

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Literary fiction
View all
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
Dirty Diana
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
Annie Bot
Bear
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Husbands
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Rental House
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Homeseeking
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
The Kite Runner
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
The Water Dancer
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
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The Goldfinch
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& Sons
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