Meanwhile, Jed’s mother moves in with Jed and his partner, Matt, and discovers the pleasures of weed, and a series of tragedies and injustices will see Jed on the road with the most unlikely person. While much of the novel concerns Jed’s vividly drawn nightmares and complex close relationships, Maxwell pens strong, extended scenes of The Sex Show cast exploring, with welcome frankness, sexual desires, taboos, and hypocrisies, a liberating contrast to the situation Jed faces at school: an effort to stage a Cabaret without “sexual overtones.” The prose blends incisive observation, earnest outrage, and bright comic sparkle (on a genial round of group sex: “The trio shifted positions like they were accommodating a fourth for a sociable game of bridge.”)

For all the laughs, though, a spirit of anxiety powers the book, as Jed and company continually face forces of repression. This provocative, hilarious, sometimes wrenching story’s second half gains momentum as America’s policing of sex and drugs inspires desperation, with several characters on the run—and discovering themselves.

Takeaway: Bold, funny novel of theater, sex, taboos, and American hypocrisy.

Comparable Titles: Stephen McCauley, Andrew Sean Greer.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-