No one writes about males self destructive behavior and then their attempts at redemption better than this author. The fact that he does it with a wonderful eye for detail and a healthy dose of humor is a bonus. ( )

Lucien Taylor, of Montana, as a boy artist “drew what he thought he was seeing” and “dreamed of consequentiality, and of romantic unrest.” As an adult he still sees things in his own way. He also achieves his two goals, in his own way.

A child of divorce and parental hardship himself, Lucien of course makes a mess of his own marriage and fatherhood. He has a woman problem. Or many of them He’s the recipient of one of the best one-night-stand departing lines ever: “You sickening fuck,’ she said. ‘I feel like a sewer.’”

Along the way he reunites with his first love – now apparently a murderer of husbands – and finds respectability as a resort owner and employer.

McGuane’s writing is luminous and sensuous, but honestly so, with no pretense. To read this book, as with all of his, is to glide on a current of perfectly placed words. ( )

Lucien Taylor, a State Department diplomat working in the Caribbean, leaves his wife and returns home to Montana to bail out a former lover, who is accused of murder. Unfortunately for Lucien, she's guilty as sin. He ends up with her ranch, which he converts into a successful, lucrative resort. Lucien has everything, except the one thing he most wants: to be reunited with his wife and son.

Something to be Desired restores the humour that was missing from Panama and Nobody's Angel, but this is not the McGuane of 92 in the Shade. The over-the-top violence of his early novels is gone, and the humour is less manic.

Some readers will be put off by Lucien's character. Except in his most recent novel (The Cadence of Grass), McGuane's protagonist is always a child of privilege, at odds with his world, who seems to lack any sense of direction. His good intentions are overshadowed by his missteps. Lucien is self-absorbed and blames his misfortunes on his penis, which seems to have a life of its own.

For those who accept the protagonist, however, this novel is both funny and rueful. Well worth reading.