Another book of social satire, well-observed, from a perspective in line with the Hemingway/Layton period. Many of the characters resemble the characters in the Solomon Gursky book.
Richler handles the characters slow descent into Alzheimers well as it slowly creeps in through the book. There is also a critique of the hard-drinking, abrasive, cynical narrator type in that he manages to alienate just about everyone by the end of the book, but there isn't much personal insight there.
I notice a link between Duddy Kravitz and Barney, the narrator of the book - Kravitz is a competitive, crass business type, but in the need to be top dog, in the need to have the outward effects of the good life (cognac, scotch, cigars, expensive accoutrements), in the constant need to compete, put down, cut others, he resembles the narrator, Barney - and to a degree, the character Mike in the Solomon Gursky novel.
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