Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
Our tour guide through the stellar, multilayered novel, Chronic City, is Chase Insteadman (cf. Everyman), a former child star living off handsome residuals. Not having much to do, he putters around town generally hoping to get laid or stoned&amp;#8212;which he does in equal parts. The title is inspired partly by that potent brand of marijuana Dr. Dre made famous; in fact, many of Insteadman and his friends’ earnest explorations have the quality of a long night of pot smoking. As one character proposes, perhaps everyone is actually living in a universe rendered by a computer. Such suspicions, presented as both paranoid and sensible, add a subtle undercurrent of creepiness to this novel, which is as much about Insteadman’s quest for love and friendship as it is about the slow unraveling of a metropolis. If it’s at all possible to be good-naturedly apocalyptic, Lethem comes close. This might be the best we can hope for these days.&amp;#8212;saÏd sayrafiezadeh
Buy it: 10.13.09