REVIEW | ‘A GAMBLER’S ANATOMY’

Jonathan Lethem's newest novel, 'A Gambler's Anatomy,” is filled with masks both literal and metaphorical. Alexander Bruno, a professional backgammon play who makes his living defeating rich dilettantes, hits a catastrophic losing streak at the same time a blot begins to obscure his vision. The book follows Bruno's seemingly ever more humiliating adventures, which lead to his face and his life being wholly remade.

Throughout the book, masks play an important role as characters - including Bruno - disguise themselves voluntarily or under duress. Lethem highlights the ways in which we are unknowable to each other and to ourselves, even when we try to strip all of our masks away.

Lethem, whose enthusiasm for the works of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick is well known, offers the reader the kind of mystery one might find in one of Dick's novels. Bruno may or may not be psychic. The blot and the growth responsible for it may or may not be dampening his abilities.

'A Gambler's Anatomy” also is infused with the kind of paranoia (which may not be paranoia at all) that might be found in a Thomas Pynchon novel. Bruno struggles to suss out the forces in play in his life and whether they part are part of a larger scheme.

Lethem is particularly effective in scenes featuring just two characters. He deftly uses dialogue to both illuminate and obscure his characters' motivations as they jostle for position in relation to one another.

The book's ending, which cannot be revealed here, is of the sort that will delight, puzzle, or disappoint some readers. I would argue that Lethem earns his unusual ending, but a case could be made that he does not and therefore leaves the reader unsatisfied at book's end.

If that leaves you wondering whether you should read the book, I'll say this: I think it's worth the gamble.