BY Paul Bailey
Every time I think Paul Bailey has written his magnum opus, the next book proves me wrong. In Chapman’s Odyssey, Harry Chapman is hospitalized, in pain, and heavily medicated. He continues to be a debonair and enchanting man, amusing the nurses with poetry recitations and deftly handling a fellow patient’s attempts to sell him T.S. Eliot’s teeth. There’s a continual stream of visitors—his dead mother, old loves, Pip (from Great Expectations), his dearest friend, Babar. Each new guest tells another part of the story, building a picture of a life well lived. Powerfully and beautifully written, this book elegantly details an ordinary man’s last dance with life. Bloomsbury Trade Paperback Original (bloomsbury.com). —Review: Angel Curtis
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