Amazon.co.uk
Set against a 1990s backdrop and in a Manhattan setting, The Fundamentals of Play is riddled with dilemmas more commonly found in a Jane Austen classic. George is a "foolishly young face in pinstripes" with a need to be old. Prematurely conservative, he is one of a dying generation of American rich kids who find "it hard to be reckless and still have one's shirts starched". His main flaw is that he's trying so hard to appear as if he's not trying that he never does anything. This is why Kate, the girl he has loved since school, is snapped up by someone else. To make matters worse, she picks an outsider--a man who doesn't know the right people but is fast-tracking his way to success as an Internet genius. What needles George most though is the stench of new money.
By following a precocious group of friends who "summer" in Maine and party on yachts, this debut novel takes an intimate look at money and class, entitlement and wealth. Perhaps deliberately, the characters are sketchily drawn, shadows set against a marching narrative that drives the old-school network of friends towards tragedy. --Jane Honey
