SOURCE: "The Beautiful Cliché," in The New York Times, July 21, 1979, p. 17.

In the following, Broyard offers a negative assessment of Alexandra.

Claude, the narrator of Alexandra, describes his past life as "pennypinching, joyless tedium," and I'm afraid that to me he remains tedious. Though he is only 49 years old, he says, "My hands and feet are stiff with arthritis, my back aches, and it hurts to straighten my knees." Spiritually he's not very limber either.

When Alexandra, the heroine of Valerie Martin's second novel, asks Claude whether he has ever been married, he says, "I've not had that good fortune." When he gets off a feeble riposte, he remarks, "I heard myself with satisfaction." After his first night in bed with Alexandra, he says: "She was delighted with my performance and I admit to being pleased with myself. Such powerful and satisfying passion had not so emboldened or...