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Aug 30, 2012 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

In her new memoir, Jessica Dorfman Jones, author of The Art of Cheating: A Nasty Little Book for Tricky Little Schemers and Their Hapless Victims, delves further into the subject matter of what was Chapter 5 of her last book, the art of cheating on a significant other.

Klonopin Lunch picks up with Dorfman Jones having fallen into a boring (and thankfully childless) marriage, finding that she longs for the excitement that she once had in the early days of her marriage to the man she started dating at 18. So what does she do? She decides to learn guitar, falls for her tight pants-wearing, cocaine-snorting, shitty band-guitarist teacher, and embarks on a tawdry affair complete with her own drug excesses. And surprise, surprise, it ultimately dooms her marriage.

Though written in a fast-moving and engaging style, Klonopin Lunch, however, doesn’t exactly make a sympathetic character out of its protagonist. It’s excruciating to read Dorfman Jones labor about consummating her cheating relationship when she’s already ultimately crossed the line with Mr. Guitar Hero. It’s brutal to read her rationalizing her own behavior by placing blame on the husband who she feels trusts her too much. And it’s painful to hear how she sticks by her new lover in a relationship that is ultimately driven only by lust and through a drug habit that renders him nearly comatose. Not because of, but despite all this, Klonopin Lunch remains engaging to the end. Did the reader learn anything from Dorfman Jones’ story? Not much. But I, for one, hope she’s happy. (www.randomhouse.com)

Author rating: 4/10