'Lion Eyes' keeps focus on author

LION EYES, by Claire Berlinski, Ballantine Books, 235 pages, $24.95

Claire Berlinski and her brother, Mischa, have both brought out books within a few weeks of each other.

In both novels the main character shares the author's name. Both are set in foreign countries where the main character is a writer. Both have a certain secret at the center of the action.

Claire Berlinski's novel "Lion Eyes" is lighter than her brother's book, however. It starts off with a writer named Claire Berlinski sitting in a Paris apartment ruminating on the fallout from the publication of her novel "Loose Lips." In real life, the real Claire Berlinski did write a novel titled "Loose Lips."

Within a few pages, a writer writing about herself as a fictional character seems much less interesting than it did in her brother's book. It seems self-indulgent, actually.

If you stick with "Lion Eyes," you will get a reward though. The endless exchange of e-mails between the author and her friends eventually culminates in a dinner party.

You'll come away thinking Claire Berlinski is every bit as good as her brother — if only she'd write more scenes and fewer e-mails.

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