Those who saw the 2002 movie About Schmidt will always see Jack Nicholson as the disagreeable retired WASP attorney who goes off the rails when his daughter announces her impending marriage to a Jewish lawyer.  Though the movie is quite different from the novel, it managed to capture much of Louis Begley’s wry tone and poignant humor.   The second book in the series got decidedly mixed reviews.  Now the third, Schmidt Steps Back (Knopf, 3/2012) shows Schmidtie at 78 getting ready for a visit from an old love, the irresistible Alice Verplanck, widow of his former law partner .  Random House claims that this is the most “emotionally nuanced installment” of Begley’s trilogy.

–posted 3/11/2012