Adam the King

By Jeffrey Lewis

'Lewis catches the thrill of proximity to America's eastern WASP aristocracy to an uncomfortable degree: their studied vagueness, their heartiness, the aloofness that cannot be copied.' - Los Angeles Times

Jeffrey Lewis was born in New York, educated at Yale and now lives in Los Angeles and Castine, Maine. Adam the King is his fourth novel, following Meritocracy: A Love Story, The Conference of the Birds, and Theme Song for an Old Show.

'A marvelous ear for idiomatic speech reveal[ing]...the vagaries of love, the odd consorting of dignity and temptation and, yes, the fragility of creation and existence.' - Library Journal

‘Lewis is a master of the subtle interplay of coincidence and character, the light tripping of events that lead to a disaster that seems at once inevitable and yet shocking’ – The Washington Post

Review from AREA Magazine:

“In this native America, Jeffrey Lewis’ Meritocracy Quartet – of which Adam the King is the fourth – has been described as having distinct echoes of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s writing. Fortunately for fans of modern American literature, this is no idle claim. So as not to give away crucial plot details the review will concentrate on this.

It is true that there are parallels to be drawn between this book and The Great Gatsby; in both there is a clash between the ‘nouveau riche’ and the longer established locals (although in Lewis’ coastal Maine setting, these locals are simple fishermen rather than the East Egg elite). More impressively, Lewis has a similar writing style to Fitzgerald, often suggesting that there is far more to the story than what is written without resorting to melodramatic cliffhangers.

This is not to say that Adam the King is not a fresh read. The allusions to Fitzgerald are notable but not overpowering, and it certainly does not feel like a modern-day rewrite. There are touches of Annie Proulx and Tom Wolfe, as Lewis displays an astute and often empathetic understanding of both the locals and the newly-arrived Bloch family. Adam Bloch is constantly atoning for a tragic past event, and although this is revealed to the reader at the very start of the novel, a sense of melancholy hangs in the air. Adam and Maisie’s relationship may seem idyllic to an envious passerby , but not everything is going smoothly, and the mansion they have built never truly feels like a home.

Even from very early on in the novel, there is a distant but dark sense that something is going to go wrong for the Blochs, and this is part of Lewis’ brilliance. His sensitive and subtle prose is compelling and believable, and what others could have turned into a mawkish litany of woe is, in his hands, masterfully handled.” - Owen Franklin, AREA Magazine