First published in 1970 to great acclaim, this novel stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storytellers craft in postwar American literature--a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with Billy Budd and The Great Gatsby. n nOtto and Sophie Bentwood live in a changing neighborhood in Brooklyn. Their stainless-steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked curbside. After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a stray, perhaps rabies-infected cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague the Bentwoods lives, revealing the fault lines and fractures in a marriage--and a society--wrenching itself apart.n nFirst published in 1970 to wide acclaim, Desperate Characters stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storytellers craft in postwar American literature -- a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with Billy Budd, The Great Gatsby, Miss Lonelyhearts, and Seize the Day.n