It’s awards season again. Soon lists will be released of the best books of last year. We will know shortly whether Stephen McCauley, the author of so many consistently superb novels, will be rewarded for his efforts. It remains a mystery why one of America’s greatest living authors is not more widely celebrated by its popular culture. Perhaps we take him for granted because his novels are so predictably satisfying.
If there is a formula for a Stephen McCauley novel, it probably goes something like this: Begin with three-dimensional characters–“round” characters to use E.M. Forster’s terminology. Craft an interesting, logical, but never predictable plot around them. (Mr. McCauley’s novels are methodically plotted and come to satisfying conclusions because he plans it that way. That’s why the last few pages are often the most satisfying.) Keep the secondary characters interesting and don’t be afraid to let them surprise the reader. Know your setting–in Mr. McCauley’s case, New England–and include enough detail so your readers will get to know–and love–it too. And now we come to that most difficult dilemma in American fiction: humor.
For a variety of reasons, Americans aren’t as comfortable with comic novels as are, say, the British. Perhaps this is because Americans aren’t as comfortable with irony as the British are. And, it should be mentioned that Mr. McCauley doesn’t write strictly comic novels. That is, their intention is not primarily to make the reader laugh. Mr. McCauley’s novels are interesting, entertaining, moving and, ultimately, edifying. They are also very funny. His latest novel, My Ex-Life is peppered with the one-liners which keep his fans coming back for more. And yet even these never seem to be written just to make the reader laugh. Rather they give voice to the characters whom my McCauley so brilliantly portrays. Such as when he describes “…an eyelift that hadn’t disguised her actual age but instead had made her look perpetually startled by the reality of being in her sixties.”
Once again, the title of Mr. McCauley’s latest novel is a play on words. It’s the story of a gay man in San Francisco who comes to inhabit the life of his ex-wife in a charmingly sleepy coastal New England town. AirBnb figures prominently in this novel. And perhaps it’s a metaphor for how quickly a person can inhabit a place he is only visiting. For David actually seems to be living there almost instantly. He’s there to help his ex-wife’s teenage daughter get into a good college and maybe to prevent the man who is divorcing her from getting the house she’s living in. He’s also there to, perhaps, connect with the owner of one of the town’s stores. This queer reader will not reveal any more of the plot, lest he spoil its many pleasures. Suffice it to say, Queer Reader strongly recommends this novel–the best of 2018.
Stephen McCauley’s My Ex-Life is published by Flatiron Books.
2/24/2019