Stripper Lessons

John O'Brien's life often imitated his art, which radiates humiliation and fatalism. In 1994, just when his novel about alcoholism, Leaving Las Vegas, was set to be made into a movie, he shot himself. He was 33, and the suicide came after several near-fatal drinking bouts. In Stripper Lessons, voyeurism fills in for drinking. It's about a clumsy, shy law clerk who lives alone and has no social life except his nightly trips to Indiscretions, the nude dancing club where he exchanges dollar tips for a few seconds of disdainful attention. He becomes naively obsessed with one of the strippers but sabotages the tenuous connection. The novel ends on an unresolved note; it's possible O'Brien wasn't done with it. But the power lies in the tangible, excruciating details, which remind us that a marginal life can very often be a life on the edge. A-