Oxygen

By Andrew Miller

Subjects: Versagen, Hungarians, Actors, fiction, England, fiction, Dramatists, Terminally ill parents, Mutter, Sohn, Mothers and sons, Los angeles (calif.), fiction, Translators, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, Courage, Mothers and sons, fiction, Actors, Fiction, psychological, Sterben, Paris (france), fiction

Description: "It is the summer of 1997. In England, Alec Valentine is on his way home to care for his ailing mother, Alice, a task that only reinforces his deep sense of inadequacy. In San Francisco, his older brother Larry prepares to return as well, knowing it will be hard to conceal that his acting career is sliding toward sleaze and his marriage is faltering. In Paris, on the other hand, the Hungarian exile Laszlo Lazar, whose play Alec is translating, seems to have it all - a comfortable home, critical acclaim, a loving boyfriend, and a close circle of friends. Yet he cannot shake off memories of the 1956 uprising and the cry for help he left unanswered. As these memorable characters soon learn, the moment has come to assess the turns taken and the opportunities missed. For each of them will soon take part in acts of liberation, even if those acts are not necessarily what they might have expected."--BOOK JACKET.