“The Starlet Apartments”
by Jonathan Lethem
from the March 4, 2019 issue of The New Yorker

While Jonathan Lethem is not new to these pages and certainly not to the literary world, I myself have still read only a little of his work, primarily whatever has appeared in The New Yorker (you can see the list of posts here). I haven’t loved what I’ve read, and I’m not sure this is going to change my opinion, though I’m always hopeful . . . I hope.

From the interview with Cressida Leyshon (here), it appears that “The Starlet Apartments” is an independent short story (not an excerpt), but it appears to be a kind of exercise. Lethem is working on a novel involving one of the central characters, but the novel is quite a different scenario.

Further, this is another story that looks to explore the #MeToo movement (even if Lethem says he didn’t have it in mind when writing). I’m curious how it will go. Lethem’s latest novel, The Feral Detective, came out last fall, and I don’t remember it getting good reviews.

So, do we have any Lethem fans here? How did you like this story? I’m curious. I hope it’s good but look forward to the discussion regardless!

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