āThe Book of Georgeā is a novel of many finely crafted, often funny moments that arrive episodically as the title character grows older. At first heās a millennial kid, then a college guy as the Twin Towers fall on 9/11.
In time George ā heās given no surname ā graduates and struggles over what to do with the rest of his life. Fate actually treats him pretty well. Heās an attractive, smart New Yorker; his family has some money; and heās often quite lucky.
But you wouldnāt know it from his clownish, sour, perplexed, defeatist attitude. Heās self-absorbed and self-disparaging, lovable and devilish ā the list could go on.
The novelās 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 āThe Book of Georgeā an easy read.
But just as the indecisive George doesnāt know where he is going in life, the reader doesnāt know where his story is going either. Getting there, in a way, is the point.
George groans inwardly at the vacuous āsitcom-level banterā 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 āthe show about nothing,ā similar to āSeinfeld.ā 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 bookās epigraph, quotes from an 1807 letter written by Johanna Schopenhauer to her 19-year-old son, Arthur, whom she says could be āa credit to human societyā but is nevertheless āirritating and unbearable.ā
Georgeās own mother, Ellen, couldnāt 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 āabout a boy who grows up to be a man who is disappointed by life.ā The book shifts gears over time. Itās title, finally, is āAll For Naught.ā
George may be a doom-and-gloom sort, but thatās not the case for Greatheadās novel. Page after page, her writing is full of humor built around prickly sarcasm and woebegone twists in Georgeās 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
