Few would deny that the contours of this morality tale appear staggeringly familiar. The Faustian allegory of the punishments visited on those who aspire to immortality—not to mention sexy bodies purchased in new-age corpse-shops!—has been done to death. Indeed, this self-aware, witty text indexes Dorian Gray, Hamlet, Whitehead and Lacan, offering fresh evidence of Kureishi’s college degree in philosophy and his involvement with the stage. So the reader wonders why he wishes to rejuvenate a cliché.