Sorrentino, Christopher 1963–

PERSONAL: Born 1963, in New York, NY; son of Gilbert Sorrentino (novelist).

ADDRESSES: Home—San Francisco, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 19 Union Square W., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

Sound on Sound (novel), Dalkey Archive Press (Normal, IL), 1995.

Trance (novel), Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: In his first novel, Sound on Sound, Christopher Sorrentino tells the story of a rock band named Hi Fi that rises to fame after an infamous night playing at a New York bar called Cheaters. A decade later, writer Paul Marzio begins to investigate that night at Cheaters and recount the hazy events that fueled the band's success. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "ambitious," pointing out that it is written to reflect "a mulitlayered recording session." The reviewer went on to note that "the story is flawlessly executed."

Sorrentino fictionalizes the real-life story of heiress Patty Hearst's kidnapping in 1973 by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in his novel Trance. Sorrentino stays close to the actual historical account and provides perspectives on the events through the eyes of several characters, including the kidnap victim, who has gone from hostage to willing comrade in the SLA, and a sportswriter who is an SLA sympathizer and trying to get a book deal to write about the group. The novel is a "consistently entertaining account of a media sensation," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Andrew O'Hehir, writing for the Salon.com, called the novel "ambitious and powerfully written," and went on to note that the author's "eye and ear for the period are terrifying." In a review in the Seattle Weekly, Patrick Enright called the novel "a brilliant, hallucinatory fever dream of Americana," while a Publishers Weekly contributor found the book to be "a tour de force, announcing a mature and ambitious talent."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2005, review of Trance, p. 504.

Publishers Weekly, March 6, 1995, review of Sound on Sound, p. 55; June 6, 2005, review of Trance, p. 37.

Seattle Weekly, July 2-August 7, 2005, Patrick Enright, review of Trance.

ONLINE

Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/ (August 24, 2005), Andrew O'Hehir, review of Trance.

Write Stuff, http://www.altx.com/int2/ (October 27, 2005), Alexander Laurence, "Interview with Christopher Sorrentino."