Ned & Nina are trying to conceive so when Ned jets off with no notice to the funeral of Douglas a mysterious friend from his student days Nina follows him so they can have sex on time Douglas was the ringleader of a fellowship of chums at NYU & Nina is baffled by the extraordinary hold the group
- & Douglas in particular
- have on Ned The novel explores the reconfiguring & reappraisal of the clique following Douglas's tragic death Subtle Bodies asks why we make the friends we do why we keep them & how we make sense of our personal histories It is a wise funny & keenly observed portrayal of shifting relationships & new truths emerging from old certainties Like all of Rush's work it embodies the dictum 'fiction is truth told excessively & beautifully' It is a warm-hearted & pitch-perfect master class in the art of the novel