Those who enjoy wordplay and cheerful depictions of the ridiculous in life are likely to find Midnight Examiner a happy novel for discussion. A challenge to discussion will be bringing group members past the common resistance of "I don't want to spoil it" that often comes with discussing a comic novel. A novel can be funny and still have ideas worth discussing, and Kotzwinkle's satiric look at New York in the 1980s has a number of ideas that may pique interest without harming the general merriment the novel engenders. For instance, the portrait of New York is idiosyncratic and open to debate: Is the novel's New York City a satiric reflection of actuality, or is it a fantasyland in which Kotzwinkle can place his misfits? Beyond that, is the portrait of the city a reflection of what it would be like if the tales from the...