Quest for the Absurd

Quest for the Absurd Voyage to the End of the Room By Tibor Fischer Counterpoint. 251 pp. $23.00.

ROGUES, not hermits, are the traditional tellers of picaresque tales. Tibor Fischer has turned that convention on its head in his new novel, a raunchy and scattershot affair narrated by a 31-year-old woman who never leaves her London flat. This formal tactic is intriguing, but it quickly fizzles out. The better part of the book is told in flashbacks or relayed through a satellite video hookup. So the novel's premise proves to be false-a transgression that would be forgivable if its merits matched the author's earlier work.

Under the Frog (1992), Fischer's first novel, tracked the mishaps of a semi-professional basketball team in Hungary during the first decade of Communist rule. Its mirthful mix of sports, sex and totalitarianism delighted critics and won Fischer a spot on Granta's list of Best Young British Novelists in 1993. His next three books-two novels and a short story collection-were inventive and respected, but a mass audience has eluded him.