After a lifetime of kindly taking care of his irresistible but impossible sister and her wonderful daughter, Tom is finally ready to put himself first. An architect, he finally has an opportunity to build his masterpiece with a new client. Assuming, that is, his rich, fickle client - the last woman he slept with before coming out - doesn’t follow through on her threats to mess it up.
A cunningly spun chronicle of life in post-traumatic, morally ambiguous America, by a masterful social satirist
New York writer Desmond Sullivan doesn't believe in marriage. His five happy years with his lover Russell haven't fundamentally challenged Desmond's conviction that, at best, true love is "an acute form of tolerance." He's sexually restless, and looking forward to his four-month teaching stint in Boston as an attempt to regain some of his own identity and try to complete the biography he's been writing. Jane Cody, a Boston public television producer, is similarly disenchanted with her marriage to a clumsy, kindly professor of English. Lately, Jane has been meeting her ex-husband Dale for drinks and coffee, although she's well aware that he's a jerk. With so much going wrong in her life, it strikes Jane that she and Desmond could collaborate on a series of documentaries, salvaging both of their foundering work lives.
"Il y a Clyde, le gai mal remis d'une rupture. Il y a le beau Marcus, son colocataire résolument hétéro, mais incapable d'entretenir une relation adulte. Et puis il y a Otis, pauvre clébard traumatisé par on ne sait quels malheurs passés. Bref, un trio d'inadaptés en butte aux petites difficultés de la vie quotidienne. Pas de quoi fouetter un chat, diront les amis des animaux. Sauf que cette chronique douce-amère est signée Stephen McCauley, un gaillard qui a en commun avec Woody Allen le génie du détail qui tue, qui fait mourir de rire, plutôt. Délicieux comme un bonbon acidulé." Alexis Liebaert, L'Evénement du Jeudi.
George lernt Nina kennen, als sein Freund ihn verlässt. Er zieht zu ihr, doch plötzlich ist Nina schwanger. Sie möchte das Kind bekommen und verlässt den Vater, um mit George eine Familie zu gründen. George ist überrascht, da er Frau und Kind nicht in seiner Lebensplanung hatte.
The author of the much-loved novels The Object of My Affection and The Easy Way Out is back - with another endearingly disaffected hero, another disastrously dysfunctional family, and new territory: the battleground - and occasional common ground - of fathers and sons. Clyde Carmichael is a hyperobservant, under-achieving teacher at a posh adult ed center. Clyde spends too much time obsessing over Gordon, his ex, devouring biographies in search of a design for living ("It's satisfying to be reminded that the most eventful and interesting lives usually end tragically"), and dodging his family: his maddeningly insecure sister and irascible father, whose days might or might not be numbered. Clyde's on the verge of becoming as aimless as his handsome (and unswervingly straight) roommate, Marcus, a casualty of higher education whose going on the tenth year of his dissertation and his umpteenth doomed relationship. Enter Louise Morris. Clyde's old friend and Marcus's onetime lover is a peripatetic writer and single mother who shows up with Ben, her son, and a neurotic stray dog in tow. The looming question of Ben's paternity is just what's needed to turn up the heat and give full comic play to McCauley's anxious, affectionate, ongoing fascination with the ties that bind - and sometimes strangle - families and friends.
Dirk van Gunsteren, 1953 geboren, übersetzte u. a. Jonathan Safran Foer, Colum McCann, Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, T. C. Boyle und Oliver Sacks. 2007 erhielt er den Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt-Preis.
George and Nina seem like the perfect couple. They share a cozy, cluttered Brooklyn apartment, a taste for impromptu tuna casserole dinners, and a devotion to ballroom dancing lessons at Arthur Murray. They love each other. There's only one hitch: George is gay. And when Nina announces she's pregnant, things get especially complicated. Howard-- Nina's overbearing boyfriend and the baby's father-- wants marriage. Nina wants independence. George will do anything for a little unqualified affection, but is he ready to become an unwed surrogate dad? A touching and hilarious novel about love, friendship, and the many ways of making a family.
