Hands down the best novel I’ve read about social climbing and aspiration. Set in the New York art world, and narrated by the son of an artist whose star once shone bright and then dimmed, The Art Fair describes in vivid detail the machinations we go through to achieve social, professional, and relational success. Lipsky’s scenes are so well drawn – I could envision this social strata of artists, agents, and collectors. At the same time I could also imagine these scenes playing out in law, publishing, or even junior high cheerleading tryouts. This book is wryly funny and will make you think about how you navigate competitive situations.

Excellent!

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Media for this free copy. In exchange for a copy I am giving an honest review.

First published in 1996, Lipsky's debut novel has been re-released and this is my introduction to Lipsky. It's a story of Richard, and his mother Joan. Once upon a time Richard was part of a family. There was his dad, his mom, his brother Jon, and then him. But one summer Joan started painting in an attempt to be a well known artist. The paints eventually drove a distance between she and her husband and they divorced. A few years down the road Richard is living with her and has this compulsion to be her caretaker. As time goes by and she rises up and then falls down in the world of art, Richard belief that he is her caretaker grows. It grows to such a place that it becomes unhealthy for both Richard and Joan. He puts his life on hold for the pursuit of making her a name. But a time comes, as it always does, where Joan and Richard need to part ways and get on with their own lives. You may think that Joan, as the Mom, would struggle the most with the cutting of the cord but in a twist it's Richard who is having the harder time. The Art Fair is a play on words. Yes, Joan and Richard went to more art openings than they could count but they both find out that the art world isn't all that fair. As I said, I have never read Lipsky before and I enjoyed it. He writes a simple and good story. He has characters that the reader can relate to. He developed the relationship between Richard and Joan so well that I could almost see the facial expressions, hear the tones of voices, and view the body language. Lipsky has only written this one novel. He's written one other fiction book, a collection of short stories. Otherwise he is a non-fiction author. But he can write fiction as well. I'm interested to see if he write any more fiction in the future.