Ultraluminous

Faw’s second novel (after Young God) pulses with an irresistible voice and the sense of impending catastrophe. The narrator, a prostitute who gives herself a different name beginning with K to every man, tells her story in sharp, crackling prose. She looks back often on her formative experiences with prostitution in Dubai with a man who had a dangerous career of his own. Now back in her native New York, her weeks are divided between men, aesthetic enhancement like pedicures and teeth bleaching, and her heroin habit. However, what could easily have turned into a blur of sex and drugs is kept in focus by concise but revealing details, such as when K desires “an egg custard that will only be texture, no taste,” one of many pieces that feel crucial in assembling the puzzle of her damaged, guarded soul. Such moments also keep her enigmatic humanity burning along with the undercurrent of hopelessness from the trauma of her past. Becoming men’s fantasies is as natural as breathing to her; her own identity disappears to make each man come alive, and she seems resentful of and careless with her own life. Yet she dates one man whom she loves, and her caring for him shows a softness even as her rage and despair grow. Faw’s writing is raw and not for all tastes, but this incisive character study, featuring an exceptionally clear and memorable prose style, should find its audience. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, the Gernert Co. (Dec.)