The Stranger

(READING) A Manhattan public intellectual is on the verge of losing his public. (His intellect has been going for quite a while.) His preening daughter is having trouble finishing her eminently stupid book. His pudgy nephew is coming from upstate New York to worship or stalk him, or both. The Emperor's Children doesn't get truly great until its 9/11 coda, and author Claire Messud probably won't be skipping ahead. But the beginning is packed with the kind of satirical characterizations that just beg to be dished out loud. (Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600. 7:30 pm, free.) by Annie Wagner

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