Rating: 
Summary: "...the profound joy of being beyond all codes..."
Review: To mention Hemingway and Salter in the same paragraph is an easy stunt. The latter may admire the former but Salter's dedication to subsurface inquiry and the rendition of natural language so far surpasses Hemingway's stilted dialogue and cliché-ridden textures that it is alarming anyone would want to compare rather than contrast the two. Most Salter readers have come upon the author by accident and been dumbfounded at his obscurity, whereas many of us are well and truly blinded to Hemingway's place in the pantheon. I often wonder when people will rise from Lit 101 stupor and read Hemingway for what he truly was-and cease to be deluded by machismo's favorite lapdog.For this humble critic, reading Salter's "Light Years" was like listening to Mahler's Fifth Symphony, like seeing Michael Gambon in "The Singing Detective," like embarking on the Ganges during a Varanasi dawn. "A Sport and a Pastime" is not Salter's best work, but after reading the book, the narrator's subtle juxtaposition of Atget's photographs to his own reveals a deft literary conceit that the reader must follow to a logical conclusion. He announces the ultimate of the narrative long before the dénouement, and yet we are drawn in to see how his story will contrast or compare with others. It is not about sex, any more than "Last Tango in Paris" was about sex. The search for carnal pleasure in a country choking on its own equivocal history is masterfully and tragically carried out to the only conclusion possible. It is the rare book in which passion is the only unutterable sentiment, where base desire, lust and money intertwine in futility. Only a voyeur can know this, in the same way that the only person who can describe a traffic accident objectively is a witness on the sidelines. The story told by those in the wreckage has titillation and motive but not a word of truth in it. Don't be fooled by what seem to be Salter's name-dropping and elitist conceits. They are counterpoints that throw into stark relief the real story that unfolds. There is no finer existentialist novela. If Camus had written about America in a similar fashion, the world might have been a different place.
Rating: 
Summary: Love Story Supreme
Review: While somewhat unconventional, Salter has managed to pen one of the greatest love stories ever told. His detail to, not only place, but to the unspoken feelings of the 2 lovers involved, is unparalleled in ANY novel. Salter has the very unique talent of making you feel what you read. A Sport and a Pastime should be found in every booklover's library.
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