Alternatives to Sex: A Novel
by Stephen McCauley
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen McCauleyEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-03-28
ISBN: 0743224736
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780743224734
- Condition: Used - Very Good
- Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Alternatives to Sex: A Novel
Book Review: A Very Funny , Profound Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Stephen McCauley's latest is certainly well worth reading. He writes with a great deal of humor but with just as much insight as to why we as human animals do some of the things we do. The novel is set in Massachusetts a year after 9/11 when people are trying to be better, or they go shopping to feel better or they withdraw into themselves. William Collins is forty-something, a real estate agent working near Boston-- McCauley has either sold real estate or knows someone who has as his take on the industry seems to be right on target-- who decides that he must do something about his life, that he will become celibate -- with an occasional lapse-- and concentrate on his profession. William is a compulsive housecleaner; irons and vacuum cleaners are some of his favorite things. He meets most of his dates on the internet where his name is Everett and his age is not accurate. His best friend is Edward, a flight attendant stationed in Boston who has anxiety attacks when he flies because of the aftershocks of 9/11. William rents out an apartment to Kumiko, an artist who is more con-artist then anything else. She manipulates William into not paying her rent and even gets him to do her ironing, although he never learns how to iron pleated skirts. There are several other assorted characters-- Charlotte and Samuel (a happy couple?), Didier, a boyfriend whom he does not sleep with because of his new celibacy, William's mother in a retirement home, whose love object she has met only via the internet, et al.
McCauley though his characters, usually William but not always, says both funny and sometimes profound things: William's idea of exercise is "making plans to go to the gym." "You can choose who you go to bed with, but you can't choose his decor." The only difference William believes between straight and gay men is that straight men "rarely buy their own clothes." He is convinced that manners went out with talk radio and that heterosexual men only use the word "fabulous" around gay men. God, Mozart and a seat cushion that doubles as a flotation device "give you a little lift, the passing illusion the universe isn't completely chaotic and that you just might be able to swim to shore." People who try to sell their homes without listing them with a real estate agent are the "same people who home-school their children, vacation in gigantic recreational vehicles, and do morris dancing." Finally William's discussion of the differences between religion and spirituality is worth the price of the book. He calls religion spirituality's "sturdier cousin," with rules, rewards and punishments and some kind of God. He associates spirituality, however, with eye pillows, green tea and unmelodic music." William opines that he operates on a "premise of muted pessimism" and doesn't expect great things of himself, a less than positive approach to living. On the other hand, he does some very decent things for several people, including Edward at the end of the novel, that leaves the reader with a whiff of hope about the future of the Williames of the world. That may be all we need.
This novel will not disappoint you.
Summary of Alternatives to Sex: A Novel
Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There's also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he's certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment. "Happy couple," he writes in his notes. "Maybe I can learn something from them." What he ultimately discovers challenges his own assumptions about real estate, love, and desire; and what they learn from him might unravel a budding friendship, not to mention a very promising sale.Full of crackling dialogue delivered by a stellar ensemble of players, Alternatives to Sex is a smart, hilarious chronicle of life in post-traumatic, morally ambiguous America -- where the desire to do good is constantly being tripped up by the need to feel good. Right now.
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