Daniel Menaker's first assignment upon becoming senior editor at Random House, after 26 years at The New Yorker, was to take under his wing the runaway political bestseller, Primary Colors.
Menaker handled the controversy surrounding the colourful campaign-trail tome written by 'Anonymous' (later unmasked as Newsweek columnist Joe Klein).
So it comes as little surprise that Menaker's first time on the other side of the editor's desk should see him produce a wry and gentle little novel that is unlikely to ruffle any feathers. The only surprise is that The Treatment is a far more enjoyable read than its synopsis suggests.
'Jake Singer, an anxious young English teacher at a prestigious New York prep school, is heading for a life of personal despair and professional mediocrity . . . he embarks on a course of psychoanalysis with a black-bearded, bodybuilding Cuban-Catholic Freudian.' Just what we need. Another tale of self-obsessed, neurotic New Yorkers determined to exorcise their demons on the analyst's couch. Why not just rent a Woody Allen video and be done with it? But as you resignedly begin turning the pages, you are guided into an off-beat courtship that unfolds despite the dictatorial tactics of the shrink, Dr Ernesto Morales, and his 'treatment'.
With a failed romance behind him and an unchallenging job, Jake feels he is going nowhere fast.
He signs up for thrice-weekly sessions with Dr Morales, whose stern dictums and steely sarcasm penetrate his consciousness to such an extent that even off the couch, Jake seems unable to make a decision without the good doctor's advice - complete with malapropisms, mispronunciations and twisted syntax - reverberating around his skull.
