Publisher's Weekly
The notion that unblinking sex makes for interesting reading may be forever dispelled by veteran writer Wallace's new novel. The plot focuses on sex therapist Arnold Freeberg's efforts to treat his dysfunctional patients by using sexual surrogates. Driven from Arizona by state law, Freeberg moves his practice to presumably liberal California, taking his best surrogate, Gayle, with him. The new clinic is soon under fire from foam-at-the-mouth religious fanatics, muckraking journalists and ambitious politicians. This material may be ripe with promise, but Wallace is defeated by it. Major characterizations are thin, minor ones are nonexistent. Situations fare no better: Gayle and fellow-surrogate Brandon hardly meet before they fall in love, and the romance that follows is puerile in the extreme. Wallace's prose is more lackluster than ever; he so artlessly details the human body that readers might be studying a list of the nuts and bolts comprising a gasoline engine. Major ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club dual main selection; Literary Guild alternate; author tour.
Library Journal
Here is a do-it-yourself sex manual in the guise of a thinly plotted novel peopled with oh so noble and dastardly characters. The good guys are the practitioners of sex therapykindly Dr. Freeberg and his trained sex surrogates, who guide their dysfunctional patients to potency and orgasm. The bad guys are the holier-than-thou types with secret overripe libidos, who would exploit these committed sex teachers for their own fame and profit by exposing them as panderer and prostitutes. Happy cures midst lovers' quarrels and attempted murders are scattered through these tips for the bedroom. It's not much of a novel, but public libraries may want it anyway. Literary Guild featured alternate; Doubleday Book Club dual main selection. Marion Hanscom, SUNY at Binghamton Lib.
The notion that unblinking sex makes for interesting reading may be forever dispelled by veteran writer Wallace's new novel. The plot focuses on sex therapist Arnold Freeberg's efforts to treat his dysfunctional patients by using sexual surrogates. Driven from Arizona by state law, Freeberg moves his practice to presumably liberal California, taking his best surrogate, Gayle, with him. The new clinic is soon under fire from foam-at-the-mouth religious fanatics, muckraking journalists and ambitious politicians. This material may be ripe with promise, but Wallace is defeated by it. Major characterizations are thin, minor ones are nonexistent. Situations fare no better: Gayle and fellow-surrogate Brandon hardly meet before they fall in love, and the romance that follows is puerile in the extreme. Wallace's prose is more lackluster than ever; he so artlessly details the human body that readers might be studying a list of the nuts and bolts comprising a gasoline engine. Major ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club dual main selection; Literary Guild alternate; author tour.
Library Journal
Here is a do-it-yourself sex manual in the guise of a thinly plotted novel peopled with oh so noble and dastardly characters. The good guys are the practitioners of sex therapykindly Dr. Freeberg and his trained sex surrogates, who guide their dysfunctional patients to potency and orgasm. The bad guys are the holier-than-thou types with secret overripe libidos, who would exploit these committed sex teachers for their own fame and profit by exposing them as panderer and prostitutes. Happy cures midst lovers' quarrels and attempted murders are scattered through these tips for the bedroom. It's not much of a novel, but public libraries may want it anyway. Literary Guild featured alternate; Doubleday Book Club dual main selection. Marion Hanscom, SUNY at Binghamton Lib.
Used availability for Irving Wallace's The Celestial Bed