Spectator

The heroine of this aptly titled first novel is a passive onlooker at her own life. Drifting back and forth from her husband, a Mexican painter, to a Japanese performer, with whom she is having an affair, Mara merely reacts to men. Set in the bohemian milieus of New York City's SoHo and Mexico City, the novel begins with Mara's marriage to Rafael and ends with the relationship's dissolution. The narrative is sandwiched between inexplicably surreal (and pretentious) opening and closing chapters. The protagonist does not seem to care much about what happens; neither does the reader. (May)