The slim novel Aberration of Starlight by Gilbert Sorrentino traces the events one summer in 1939 through the perspectives of four different characters.  The title is taken from an astrological phenomenon involving the movement of both the observer and the subject under observation.  Right from the start, Sorrentino will upend the reader’s expectations.  The four characters lives become revealed through various narrative techniques.  These include letters, question-and-answer, and stream of consciousness. The four main characters are Billy Recco, the son of Marie Recco.  He idolizes Tom Thebus, a salesman wooing Marie, much to the chagrin of Marie’s father, John McGrath.  … Continue reading Aberration of Starlight (1980) by Gilbert Sorrentino