GLISSANDO

In Burke’s (The Poconos in B Flat, 2011) novel, a middle-aged divorcée embarks on a new relationship while contemplating whether to seduce a married man.

When she was 23, Ellie Greenberg had a whirlwind romance with Rudy DeSantis, a corrections officer at a prison in the Catskills. They quickly married, but they split up after Ellie discovered that Rudy was having an affair with a girl working at the local doughnut shop. Ellie reevaluates her life, pursues her job as a paralegal, adopts a dog, and joins the local community school jazz band. As the years pass, a perpetual lack of romantic intimacy plagues Ellie, until she meets Vince Keyes at one of her jazz band rehearsals. He’s a trumpet player with salt-and-pepper hair and blue eyes, and they hit it off immediately. The catch? He’s married—and to a much younger woman, to boot. So Ellie begins dating her co-worker Stan Feldman. As Ellie juggles her burgeoning relationship with Stan and her private yearnings for Vince, she must decide what she truly wants in her life—and whether either of these men are meant to be a part of it. This novel is full of witty lines, as when she recalls her dates with “a slew of new future morons,” including one “who wanted to have sex right from the get-go. With black candles. No thank you.” There are also occasionally poignant insights into the ways that Ellie sells herself short or sabotages her own happiness. However, the book undercuts some potentially powerful moments by offering summary instead of detail, as when Ellie tells Stan of her romantic feelings for Vince. As a result, it often feels as if Ellie is unconcerned about the damage wrought by her actions. For example, the book never addresses how Stan feels about Ellie stringing him along, or the potential consequences to Vince’s family if he and she were to get together.

An often humorous but unfocused story of a woman searching for love.