On the Edge

It is too easy to satirize phony gurus (are there any other kind?), so what Edward St. Aubyn does in this novel is better: He blends his characters' often sincere striving for enlightenment with their more earthly goals (the pursuit of a woman, for example), while throwing jabs here and there at New Age nostrums. To the author's credit, the line between charlatan and second coming of Seneca is not always obvious.