BOOK REVIEW / Paperbacks: Eternal Curse on the Reader of these Pages - Manuel Puig: Vintage, pounds 5.99

'I'm paid to push your wheelchair, not give you my philosophy of life,' snaps Larry, a middle-class drop-out employed to care for an elderly invalid, Mr Ramirez. But as the odd couple talk their way through Greenwich Village, their respective experiences of exile forge a bond verging on an obsession to make sense of each other's lives. The novel's dialogue format makes you feel part of a moving private conversation.