The Atonement and Other Stories

Starred review from September 1, 1997
Fragile, often smug, and sometimes silly characters populate this noteworthy collection of 12 stories from the ever-prolific Auchincloss (The Education of Oscar Fairfax, etc.). The stories throw open once again his customary, sentimentally bittersweet window onto the declining WASP establishment. If one motif runs through these tales, it is collapse. Whether it's an insiders' financial network in "The Atonement," the regularity of a golf game in "The Foursome" or the moral fiber of a boarding school chum in "Realist in Babylon," some remnant of gentility is perpetually falling apart under Auchincloss's dismayed, nostalgic gaze. Despite the slightly static monologist style of "The Golden Voice" and "Lear's Shadow," these glimpses of the Eastern elite's manners and moral quandaries will provide an accessible first taste for the Auchincloss novice and an enjoyable read for longtime fans. (Sept.) FYI: This collection is being published to coincide with Auchincloss's 80th birthday.

May 15, 1997
Chronicler of the upper crust, Auchincloss has written 53 books in the last 50 years, and there's no stopping him. This new offering is his first collection of short fiction since his Collected Stories (LJ 11/15/94) was published.

September 1, 1997
Prolific and refined, Auchincloss has been pondering the traditions and paradoxes of high society for 50 years, the same period these tales explore, and he is as intrigued with shifts in social mores in these days of minimum decorum as he is in the persistence of selfishness. Manifestations of greed, guilt, and disillusionment figure often in his stories, as does anti-Semitism, and all animate the title story, which involves an inside-trading scandal, two old friends, and questions of morality versus legality and connivance versus love. Auchincloss steps aside and lets characters narrate two particularly witty and sly stories: "Ars Gratia Artis," in which an Englishman recalls his involvement with a wealthy American family and their art collection, and "The Last Great Divorce," in which a mother recalls the shock waves set off by her divorce in 1938 upon the occasion of her daughter's divorce in 1961. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)