Arthur Phillips first book is a gem. It is 1990 in Budapest and the fall of the Soviet Union has freed Turkey and caused a rush of expats: some running in with venture capital, some with political purposes, some blown by the winds of happenstance and many following the artistic nose that continually draws them to the very place history is unfolding. That place is ever changing and for some in Budapest in 1990 the fear was that they were missing the real action that was happening in Prague. Hence the title.

Phillips prose is razor sharp, witty, wry, energetic and self aware. His characters are people we have all had brief crossings with at the hippest of times, when we lucked into an invitation to a cool party. He makes them real to us, showing us their motivations, their insecurities, their strengths and through them we can imagine ourselves that cool, imagine ourselves sipping drinks at the newest trend spot in the free world looking out at the bulwarks of history and the ravages of Soviet neglect.

Sweet lines like "If one refuses to see the truth, then one could hardly expect to be loved for one's blindness", are tossed easily and frequently throughout this fun read. I eagerly await Phillips next book and definitely recommend this one. This is a book meant for the beach of an aquamarine sea or a shady veranda in Havana's swelter. Enjoy.

"It is my belief that irony is the the tool of culture between creative high periods. It is the necessary fertilizer of the culture when it is (lying fallow)....American culture lies fallow now. There is nothing living, only things waiting. And the earth gives off only a smell. This smell, not pleasant, is irony. Very...self conscious. ...It is the role now of your writers and thinkers in your culture to absorb what has come before, to filter the last good harvest, and to throw off the chaff, put in the bad smell irony everywhere and wait for new seasons.