"If, as a main character in this playfully intelligent novel about writing novels professes, "The art of fiction lies in wandering beyond the conventional into the original and outrageous." Harington's novel succeeds adm..."If, as a main character in this playfully intelligent novel about writing novels professes, "The art of fiction lies in wandering beyond the conventional into the original and outrageous." Harington's novel succeeds admirably. This despite the fact the book could aptly be subtitled "Variation on a theme (and the life) of nabokov.