Berger employs a very restrained style and narrative mode for Reinhart's Women, as though making a deliberate effort to avoid the more imaginative gambles of Arthur Rex (1978) and Neighbors (1980). The novel returns to the more realistic comedy of manners tradition that influenced Berger's first Reinhart novels, although there are moments that seem to be pure farce, in the mode of Neighbors and The Feud (1983), the book that immediately followed Reinhart's Women.
Berger's style is an urbane and mature instrument in Reinhart's Women, perfectly suited to the point of view of the mellow and gentlemanly Reinhart, whose consciousness dominates the story. At times, Berger's command of language and superb aesthetic control seem to be embodied in wise aphorisms such as "Fortunately he had lived long enough to know that the best defense against.....
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