The Four Temperaments
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The spellbinding story of a father and son, both married, who fall in love with the same alluring ballerina.
Oscar Kornblatt has been a first violinist with the New York City Ballet for so many years that he scarcely notices the throngs of eager young dancers who fill the ranks of the corps de ballet. But Ginny Valentine catches his eye, and when he comes to know her he becomes utterly enchanted by her. One night when Ruth, his quietly independent wife, is away, he brings Ginny back to his Upper West Side apartment and the two become lovers.
While the affair doesn’t last, Oscar’s attachment to Ginny continues to flourish. He invites her to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner, where she meets and falls in love with Oscar’s eldest son, Gabriel, home from San Francisco for the holiday. Gabriel, married to a beautiful, highly unstable woman, finds himself falling under Ginny’s spell. As the bonds of the family begin to erode, Ruth takes drastic and shocking measures to salvage what is most precious to her: her baby granddaughter, Isobel.
Set against the glamorous, exciting world of the New York City Ballet, The Four Temperaments explores the ways in which love and marriage are tested. Through its unforgettable cast of characters, this novel reveals how the demands of the flesh can suddenly, almost inexplicably, turn lives upside down. With the assurance and virtuosity of a seasoned storyteller, Yona Zeldis McDonough presents the powerfully sexy story of two adulterous affairs and imbues them with an irresistible emotional undercurrent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Father and son fall for the same girl in this uneven debut. Oscar Kornblatt, first violinist for the New York City Ballet, finds the quiet routine of his life shattered when he meets Ginny Valentine, an ambitious member of the corps de ballet. Although Ginny is unlike the more sophisticated women who have caught Oscar's attention in the past, she has a fiery energy that he can't resist and the two begin an affair. Unaware of the extent of his involvement with Ginny, Oscar's wife, Ruth, invites her to Thanksgiving dinner. When she catches Ginny in the guest bedroom kissing not Oscar but their married eldest son, Gabriel, the delicate balance of the family is imperiled. McDonough focuses on one character in each chapter, which gives the reader a sense of the various histories and tensions involved, but this technique also makes the narrative somewhat halting and disjointed. Ruth emerges as levelheaded and understanding, while Ginny is stereotypically selfish and narcissistic and Gabriel's wife, Penelope, is unstable. Lust and jealousy consume Oscar and Gabriel, although there is not much about Ginny that can really account for this. Events unfold in a predictable manner for most of the book, until things take a tragic turn and Ruth flees to Mexico, taking Gabriel's one-year-old daughter with her. McDonough has a knack for building solid characters, though they are overshadowed by the melodrama of their situations. National advertising.
