August is told in a subdued manner, almost entirely dialogue. All of the action of Dawn's life is reported secondhand, from the couch in Lulu's office. The alternate chapters, in which Lulu emerges from the office into her private life, are not nearly so interesting, heightening the impression that reality in this book lies in the talking.

The pace is extremely slow, with all the hesitations and even redundancies of analysis sessions written in. Occasionally the dialogue bogs down as it belabors a point, and the reader might wish for a change in setting or tone, but the illusion that he is overhearing real psychoanalysis is well maintained and accomplishes Rossner's purposes.

At first Dawn's and Lulu's lives are kept very separate, in self-contained chapters, but then overlaps begin to occur. By the middle of the book, Sascha and Dawn are in direct competition for Lulu. Leaving her...