The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even

June 1, 2014
A cute romantic comedy featuring two male buddies who are obsessive-compulsive germophobes and the female Ph.D. student who helps ease at least one of them into a more conventionally normal life.Imagine one of those road movies starring a younger Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and then cross it with Rain Man, and you'll have some idea of the tone of this debut novel by Westbury. His biography identifies him as "a cognitive neuropsychologist...[whose] work focuses on understanding the functional structure of language processing and the neurological underpinnings of psychotherapy." Fear not: The doctor doesn't let the science get in the way of an engaging story, though it will inspire many readers to rethink their conceptions of mental disorders. Narrator Isaac is a former psych major who's dealing with the death of his mother and the money he's inherited. In group therapy, he develops a special affinity with Greg, who has a master's degree in art history. Beyond the obligatory hand-washing that bonds them, Isaac's routine includes visiting museums, and he becomes fixated on Marcel Duchamp, to whom Greg (whose major quirk is a thing for spoons) has introduced him. Though Isaac is inordinately careful not to touch anything or anyone on these museum visits, he becomes involved with the irresistibly attractive Kelly, a Japanese-Canadian Ph.D. student who's writing her thesis on the Bible story of Abraham and Isaac (which serves as a recurring thematic motif). The Duchamp piece from which the novel takes its title incorporates a chocolate grinder, which Isaac obsesses over possessing for himself. The three friends rent a Winnebago, which Kelly alone can drive, and make their way from Boston to Philadelphia to fulfill Isaac's quest, talking a lot and opening the two men to experiences beyond their comfort levels.It's a sweet story, and it builds inevitably to a happy ending.

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June 1, 2014

It's not every enticingly nutty novel that centers on a modernist masterpiece, in this case Marcel Duchamp's The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, painted on glass and cracked in delivery. But neurotic buddies Isaac and Greg, who met in "group" (that is, group therapy sessions), are so obsessed with Duchamp's work that they travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see it. VERDICT Bright aesthetic discussion amid mishap; not just for the college-nostalgic but for anyone who enjoys a rush of ideas while being entertained.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Art, for me, was both the symptom and the cure, explains narrator Isaac, referring to his obsessive-compulsive disorder. After the death of his mother exacerbates his symptoms, Isaac spends months in museums contemplating single objects (punctuated only by bouts of nonstop hand washing). When Greg, an art aficionado and fellow diagnosable from group therapy, convinces Isaac of the perfection of Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades, they hatch a plan to break from their comfort zones by journeying to see the artist's modernist masterpiece, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Joined by Kelly, an indulgent art scholar, and guided by a 58-page plan, the pair commandeers a sterilized Winnebago and launches their aesthetic quest. Along the way, the friends channel Duchamp by restaging his works and embracing chance encounters and connections that are at once beautiful and absurd. Part treatise on art appreciation, part humorous on-the-road tale, neuropsychologist Westbury's debut novel offers a compelling story about the role art can play to disrupt, delay, and contribute to human engagement with the real world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)