Let Nothing You Dismay

"Uproarious...one of the funniest writers around."—The New Yorker

Tad Leary has problems. Just fired from his job at a Manhattan private school, about to be evicted from his sublet, and stalled on his dissertation ("Social Hierarchies of Imaginary Places"), he wakes up on the Sunday before Christmas to realize he has seven parties to attend.

A trooper in jeans and a pressed white shirt, he sets off for brunch with his eccentric family, an afternoon performance-art piece by a friend sporting l...