I hope that Robert Freeman Wexler won’t mind me describing his writing as an acquired taste. After all, Jeff Ford says as much in his introduction to The Painting and the City [buy isbn=”9781906301538″]. Thank heavens, therefore, for PS Publishing, because they are willing to take a chance on experimental fiction.

The book involves the use of art to create magic, which I suspect is almost a genre in its own way. Wexler makes it work, and along the way tells the reader quite a lot about the history of New York. Being set in New York also allows the book to have a fairly cosmopolitan cast. Gay and lesbian couples are dropped into the story in a very natural way. They are there not to make a point, but because any image of the art community of New York would seem wrong without them.

If you enjoyed Brian Francis Slattery’s novels you will probably enjoy this one as well, although Slattery, being an economist, makes rather more sense to me. Wexler’s book has a bit too much of the “commercial = evil” for my taste, though again I’m sure that’s fairly typical of artistic communities. If you prefer to read prose that is simple and straightforward then give this one a miss.