An Available Man is my favorite kind of novel, and it’s my favorite novel I’ve read this year so far as well: it’s a comedy of manners, it’s very astute about its characters and their interior lives, and it’s beautifully written.
The titular available man is Edward Schuyler, a recently
widowed biology teacher in his early sixties.
His stepchildren and step-daughter-in-law place a personal ad for him in
the New York Review of Books, and this book follows his adventures and
misadventures in the dating world of a sixty-something man. The story moves between suburban New Jersey and New York City (his home and work bases), and it
covers the first three years of life without his beloved wife Bea.
The story draws you in from the beginning because it begins
with Edward alone and remembering Bea’s struggle with pancreatic cancer as well
as their relationship. You also feel sorry
for him because he was left at the altar by his first serious partner, Laurel. Wolitzer also draws you in
with the details that make the characters feel very vivid: Edward buries the letters responding to the
personal ad in the kitchen’s crazy drawer, which is just how this character
would describe what I would call a junk drawer. He’s too buttoned-up to call it a junk drawer.
There are several delicious set pieces in the story as
well: Edward at his first dinner party
as a widower and Edward’s
semi-disastrous dates with women who responded to his personal ad. Wolitzer has a sense of humor. None of the characters, including the women
he meets along the way, are caricatures or flat: Wolitzer clearly has affection for all of her characters,
including his needy stepdaughter Julie, Edward’s mother-in-law Gladys, and even
the dogwalker Mildred who’s interested in the occult. The family life feels real, and the places Edward inhabits feel
real.
This is a story about grief, this is a story about the
dating lives of widows and widowers, and this is a portrait of marriage. Nothing is easy for these set of characters,
but they are interesting and are striving to become more alive, which makes for
an interesting read.
An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer
BallantinePublication date: January 24, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
This very much sounds like my kind of novel too. Thanks for the review. Must get hold of it.
ReplyDelete