The Fatigue Artist

by Lynne Sharon Schwartz

Book Overview

The Fatigue Artist is a refreshingly candid story about life, love, and survival in the contemporary world. A writer living in New York City, Laura is overwhelmed by a mysterious lethargy and retreats... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684802473
• ISBN13: 9780684802473
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Writing

Lynne Sharon Schwartz is such an accomplished wordsmith that her books are to be savored bit by bit, like eating the finest of chocolate cakes...you just don't want to finish. Published in 1996, this beautiful novel tells the story of Laura, a quintessential New Yorker and writer, who is stricken with chronic fatigue syndrome after losing her journalist husband to a random senseless crime. As Laura describes her lassitude, wherein her bed calls to her "like a lover," the reader can actually feel the inertia of the body...can actually BECOME Laura as she uses this illness to relive her fortysomething life up to this point. Often feverish and lightheaded, Laura swims through her memories as any of us would in this situation, somehow presenting us with a cohesive whole--a portrait of a very likeable woman who is, to use a hateful cliche but one that works in this instance, "at a crossroads." In addition to the almost painfully beautiful prose, Schwartz does something unusual by peppering the book in places with actual photographs of the scenes she is describing, particularly a large backyard swimming pool only 1/4 filled with water. I cannot believe I missed this book when it first came out, but I found it as timely and wonderful as anything written now. It is not dated and its powerful simplicity leaves a lasting impression, as everything Schwartz writes.

Definitely a good read...

Like others who read this book, I found it to be deliberately slow and paced at times, but I enjoyed this form of writing the story after a time. It is a very intimate novel, so much so it almost makes you want to crawl into bed yourself while reading it! The main character I did find very self-involved, although mostly in a healthy manner. The steps she takes to take care of her illness, such as the Tai Chi class, seem to involve the reader more intimately into the character's spiritual journey. The novel is deliberately oblique as to whether or not the main character will make any resolution in career (finishing her book) or romance (Q). All in all, I found it a rich and satisfying read.

Beloved book

This brilliant book is one of my favorite novels of all time. Illness, grief, growth, recovery, not to mention Tai Chi, photographs, performance art, the most intimate appreciation for Manhattan, and meditations on the act of writing itself...no one but Schwartz could craft this combination of wisdom, knowledge, experiments in form, gorgeous language, and thoroughly engaging characters and plot.

The sum of the parts is greater than the whole

As a whole the novel is weak, but there are passages that make it worth reading. In this case, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The story line meanders & the book is mired in detail. But perhaps the author intended to create a feeling of frustration & impatience in the reader, to mirror the frustration & impatience of the protagonist (Laura) as she waits for her viral illness to pass. Laura has certain traits that make it hard to care about her: she seems self-important, convinced that she's the center of the universe, & mean-spirited. (For example, when the Tai Chi teacher expresses sympathy upon learning of the death of Laura's husband, Laura's response is to ridicule the teacher for having pretended not to understand English -- p. 77.) I'm not sure if Schwartz intended Laura to be off-putting. Maybe, the author's point is that illness causes the patient to be self-centered. Schwartz tends to indulge in pretentious overwriting. (E.g., p 131: "I would have worshipped not the sun itself but its light. The sun is monotheistic, but light appears in infinite forms, the gods and goddesses in their protean moods.") That's too bad because she can be very good at depicting scenes (e.g., starting on p. 241: at the pool, on a summer afternoon) Schwarz makes some good observations. Here's one that all by itself made the book worthwhile: "...it is essential to love your life or else change it. I couldn't or didn't wish to change it so I willed myself to love it." (p.55)