Published in paperback on 9th July 2020 by Wildfire. Also available in hardcover, audio and ebook formats.
Read July 2020.
Toby Fleishman is in the process of getting divorced. Free from the confines of his nightmare marriage, he is finally able to dip his toe in the seemingly bottomless pool of sexually available women on the on-line dating forums, especially since his parental duties will now be confined to weekends.
Just as Toby is settling into his re-born bachelor lifestyle, his high-powered wife, Rachel, disappears and abdicates all resposibility for their children to him, making it rather difficult to juggle work, parental duties and his new found sex-god status. But at least his predicament should garner him some sympathy, surely?
As Rachel's absence continues, Toby's life begins to unravel and he is forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that he might not have seen things quite as clearly as he thought...
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It is a very rare thing for me to reach the end of a book and mark its ending with a "Wow!". This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of those books. It is quite simply brilliant.
This is a book that takes on the great American novel and does a number on it, because this incredible debut has all the hallmarks of those big hitters of the American literary world while having the delicious audacity to be written by a woman... and a mighty talented one, at that! Hallelujah!
Here we have your all-American, Jewish doctor and wronged husband, Toby Fleishman, all at sea because his marriage has failed - the marriage he tried so hard to make work, by bending over backwards to be, and do, everything he could to be a good husband, while obviously remaining true to himself. He feels out of step with a world that seems to hold his values worthless, convinced that his wife did nothing but manoeuvre him into a life he did not want, surrounded by the trappings of a lifestyle he holds in contempt.
Toby embarks on a voyage of sexual gluttony, on finding that he is now the flavour of the month among New York's population of single women on on-line dating sites. No longer does he have to worry that his diminutive height, and lack of high-powered credentials may hold him back in his search for love - if anything, it is all a little too much.
But this is not just his chance for a fresh start, he is now also free to reconnect with the close friends of his youth, reflect upon how their lives have (or have not) changed, and wonder what happened to all their youthful expectations. Where did it all go wrong?
Toby embarks on a voyage of sexual gluttony, on finding that he is now the flavour of the month among New York's population of single women on on-line dating sites. No longer does he have to worry that his diminutive height, and lack of high-powered credentials may hold him back in his search for love - if anything, it is all a little too much.
But this is not just his chance for a fresh start, he is now also free to reconnect with the close friends of his youth, reflect upon how their lives have (or have not) changed, and wonder what happened to all their youthful expectations. Where did it all go wrong?
Just as Toby is starting to get into the swing of things, Rachel goes AWOL, and he begins to feel put-upon and resentful that he is now carrying the sole responsibility for the care of their two children, while trying to give the required attention to his job and love life, after everything he has already been through. How much more can Toby take?
However, we now come to where this novel shows its credentials, and the author Taffy Brodesser-Akner blows the piece wide open, because refreshingly (and oh so originally), we see Toby's life not just through his eyes, but also through those of his very old friend, Libby - who is going through somewhat of a mid-life crisis herself and questioning her own marriage and life choices.
The two narratives are entwined, and it does take a little while to establish that their are in fact two voices here - one male and one female - but as the novel progresses you find it easier to distinguish who is speaking at any one time. Through this device, the edge of the male experience (albeit not the one we traditionally read about) is tempered, and it gives a way for some interesting and enlightening questions to be asked of it by the female one. This works beautifully and allows the reader to compare and contrast the experiences of the two separate characters, and lay bare many of their misconceptions. It also gives a way in for one of the smartest about-turns in a novel I have ever read - one which absolutely spins the whole piece on its head and makes you look at what you thought you knew in a completely different way.
This book is astonishingly good. It explores a whole smorgasboard of issues to perfection - family dynamics and how marriages change over time; sexual politics; power plays and misunderstandings in relationships, and within the world of work; traditional roles, and the fall-out that comes when partners deviate from these; the nature of male and female ambition; how the word views working mothers; being true to yourself; the desire to make a better life for your children; the yearning for connection; the weight of expectation; and the longing for the perceived freedom of youth...and more, much more. It also has some very interesting things to say about the role of social media and mobile technology today.
I know this novel is going to give me the most terrible book hangover, because, inevitably, it is going to be a very hard act to follow. Take a tip from me and get yourself a copy of Fleishman Is In Trouble now, because this is most definitely one of the must read novels of our time.
Thank you to Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Wildfire books for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
From the cover of the book:
Finally free from his nightmare marriage, Toby Fleishman is ready for a life of online dating
and weekend-only parental duties.
But as he optimistically looks to a future that is wildly different from the one he imagined,
his life turns upside-down as his ex-wife, Rachel, suddenly disappears.
While Toby tries to find out what happened - juggling work, kids
and his new, app-assisted sexual popularity - his tidy narrative
of a spurned husband is his sole consolation.
But if he ever wants to really understand where Rachel went and what
really happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider
that he might not have seen it all that clearly in the first place . . .
About the author:
Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. She has also written for GQ, ESPN the Magazine, and many other publications.
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