About Schmidt

The protagonist of this novel of self-deception and loneliness is Albert Schmidt, a widowed, retired lawyer in his 60s, who has shown neither affection nor tolerance to his daughter, Charlotte. Now, she is married to a Jewish lawyer whose warm family provides her with what she has never had. Meanwhile, Schmidt's life is invaded by the young Puerto Rican waitress with whom he is infatuated. This novel was nominated for the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.New York Times Book Review, 09/22/1996 'Consistently subtle and intelligent, this novel ends by getting under your skin despite the unlikability of its protagonist. You are left with the feeling of having found out the complex truth behind the impeccable facade of someone you might never notice if you met him at a party--someone, on the other hand, you might just know or be, an ordinary person with ordinary problems, even if he does have a retirement income of some $330,000 a year.' -- Phyllis Rose Los Angeles Times Book Review, 09/15/1996 'Popular fiction has long tended to ignore the intricacies of old-world corporate America....Yet for more than a decade now Begley has chronicled this world....While this has often evoked comparisons to James and Wharton, these are not mere novels of manners. Instead, Begley uses his intimate attunement to the language, habits and assumptions of the upper classes to reveal the tiny cracks in the system and to excavate the subtle cruelties and disarray that lie quietly beneath the surface....Begley has created a terribly funny, touching, infuriating and complex character...' -- Thomas Hines