Doctor Blues

As funny and boisterous and wise a novel as John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor. rich with language and the kind of inventiveness that surprises the reader." -John Irving"Mark Smith writes so well, I found myself leaping up from my seat, rushing to the nearest pair of ears to read aloud whole chunks of his marvelous prose. His style and tale are so rich, full-blooded, elegantly spun out in a conversational, anecdotal manner. Each line achieves a kind of grace his hero, George Montrichard wishes he could grasp or discover. Smith's novel is a joyous, rambunctious celebration of life in America, doomed as we are to recurrent myths and fantasies, complete with American longings writ large. This is a magnificent novel." -Sam Coale, Providence Sunday Journal'love, hate, laughter, and anger are only a few of the emotions that will be aroused by George Montrichard, hero and narrator of Mark Smith's dazzling new novel, Doctor Blues." -Ms."A complex and fascinating novel, subtle and psychologically teasing, but with a very strong fictional thrust." -Robert Penn Warren"George Montrichard, alias Doctor Blues, the narrator of Mark Smith's novel, leads a madcap life that includes two wives, one mistress, three children, a foreign escapade and the predicament of being a suspect in a murder case. But even more moving than what happens to him is Montrichard's ongoing stream of consciousness. By turns outrageous, witty, hilarious, often guilt-ridden. Montrichard's interior dialogue is reminiscent of a middle-aged Augie March." -William R. Evans, Best Sellers"George Montrichard, who tells not only who he is, but isn't, in the process becomes one of the most delightful characters in recent memory. Doctor Blues is a book not to miss." -Tony Ardizzone, the Virginian Pilot/Ledger-Star"Mark Smith's fine and funny new novel is also wise, urbane, witty, humane and continually entertaining. Mark Smith is one of very best novelists writing now. Doctor Blues is ineffable as music, as fu