鈥淭he Book of George鈥� is a novel of many finely crafted, often funny moments that arrive episodically as the title character grows older. At first he鈥檚 a millennial kid, then a college guy as the Twin Towers fall on 9/11.
In time George 鈥� he鈥檚 given no surname 鈥� graduates and struggles over what to do with the rest of his life. Fate actually treats him pretty well. He鈥檚 an attractive, smart New Yorker; his family has some money; and he鈥檚 often quite lucky.
But you wouldn鈥檛 know it from his clownish, sour, perplexed, defeatist attitude. He鈥檚 self-absorbed and self-disparaging, lovable and devilish 鈥� the list could go on.
The novel鈥檚 author, Kate Greathead, is a gifted storyteller who reels off dialogue filled with wit and humor so well it makes page-turning a pleasure and 鈥淭he Book of George鈥� an easy read.
But just as the indecisive George doesn鈥檛 know where he is going in life, the reader doesn鈥檛 know where his story is going either. Getting there, in a way, is the point.
George groans inwardly at the vacuous 鈥渟itcom-level banter鈥� that comes easily to him in conversation. Greathead is deft at dishing out such dialogue, too, and chapter after chapter, as George ages and a variety of crises large and small arise, this episodic novel seems a form of first-rate TV sitcom between covers.
George would be glad to call it 鈥渢he show about nothing,鈥� similar to 鈥淪einfeld.鈥� Then he would cancel it.
Choosing philosophy as his college major, George writes his thesis on Arthur Schopenhauer, a 19th-century philosopher often seen as deeply pessimistic, much like George himself. Greathead, in the book鈥檚 epigraph, quotes from an 1807 letter written by Johanna Schopenhauer to her 19-year-old son, Arthur, whom she says could be 鈥渁 credit to human society鈥� but is nevertheless 鈥渋rritating and unbearable.鈥�
George鈥檚 own mother, Ellen, couldn鈥檛 have said it better.
After graduating, George eventually decides to become a writer. He starts a novel, but agonizes over the point of it. Early on, George says the book is 鈥渁bout a boy who grows up to be a man who is disappointed by life.鈥� The book shifts gears over time. It鈥檚 title, finally, is 鈥淎ll For Naught.鈥�
George may be a doom-and-gloom sort, but that鈥檚 not the case for Greathead鈥檚 novel. Page after page, her writing is full of humor built around prickly sarcasm and woebegone twists in George鈥檚 life.
There are serious, even sad, moments, plus plot turns that give the narrative depth. The reader may begin to feel an emotional tug. Jenny, a young woman who falls in love with George, lives with him for long, often agonizing stretches. They hit midlife as the pandemic hits the country, and Jenny brings real poignancy to the story.
She even grasps, finally, what George is all about.
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AP book reviews:
Kendal Weaver, The Associated Press
