شکست در قدم: یک رمان

The prickly beleaguered elderly WASP protagonist of About Schmidt and Schmidt Delivered scrambles for a last chance at love before the sun sets on the Hamptons. When we last saw lawyer Albert Schmidt ("Schmidtie" to all near and dear), he was still reeling from the loss of the paradise he'd found with Carrie, a Hispanic waitress forty years his junior, who finally declined his marriage proposal, and settling into a tenuous truce with his only child, Charlotte, a humorless PR flack for Big Tobacco, who broke his heart by marrying a wonky young (and, ahem, Jewish) associate at Schmidt's white-shoe firm. Now, with both Carrie and Charlotte pregnant, Schmidt faces a life alone, with only the crumbs of grandfatherly status to sustain him. His only hope: the French widow of a former partner--as elusive as she is beautiful. Whether his rusty seduction skills can lure her from Paris to the Hamptons won't be known, though, until Schmidt endures one more ordeal by... “ Tragic and redemptive . . . Updike had Rabbit, Roth has Zuckerman, Richard Ford has Bascombe and Begley has Schmidt. . . . [ Schmidt Steps Back ] is the most ambitious novel [yet] in the Schmidt cycle.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Full of dark humor, compassion, and heart, Schmidt Steps Back is the most romantic installment yet of the drama that began with the acclaimed About Schmidt . Now seventy-eight, and just as passionate, sharp, and endearingly prickly as ever, Albert Schmidt faces a life alone, with only the crumbs of grandfatherly status and a less-than-demanding position at an international organization to sustain him. His only hope is Alice Verplanck, the French widow of a former partner, as elusive as she is beautiful. Whether his rusty seduction skills can lure her from Paris to the Hamptons won’t be known, though, until Schmidt endures one more ordeal by fire. Hilarious, engrossing, and deeply poignant, Schmidt Steps Back is Louis Begley’s finest novel yet. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Louis Begley's Memories of a Marriage. Praise for Schmidt Steps Back “Engaging . . . Begley gets as close to Schmidt as a diarist, inhabiting this man who has been seasoned by a long life.”— The New York Times Book Review “Begley gets inside Schmidt’s fertile WASP brain . . . with subtlety, intelligence, and wit.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “The novel grows in Begley’s excellent intricacy . . . to the level of art rather than manners. . . . One cannot read one of the Schmidt novels without laughing.”— San Francisco Chronicle “Thoroughly absorbing . . . [a] cause for celebration.”—Salon “[A] superb tragicomedy . . . seductive, subversive, and commanding.”— Booklist ( starred review) When we last saw Schmidt, his love, Carrie had found a younger man. Thirteen years later, New Year's Eve 2008, it's the dawn of the Age of Obama. Schmidt's affection for the young president-elect is boundless, and as he imagines a better day for his country, he dares to hope there's one for him too