A Certain Age

By ELIZABETH GLEICK

One might hope, or at least think, that a novel with this title, about a single, thirtyish woman in New York City, would contain at least one significant likable character, preferably the husband-hunting protagonist herself. But in setting out to satirize some of the more glaring materialism of our time, Janowitz has created an oddly '80s portrait of life in the big city without any of the humor or flashes of insight that might have made this book stand out. A hateful heroine and a catalog of her conspicuous consuming do not an amusing read make.

--By Elizabeth Gleick