On the HahaFiction shelf
My Ex-Life
by Stephen McCauley
David Hedges has lost his boyfriend and may soon lose his San Francisco rental. Julie, his ex-wife from decades ago, needs help getting her daughter ready for college while her second marriage falls apart. He flies east to her seaside house, where their old friendship resumes amid fresh housing and family problems.
From the author’s blurb
“But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix.”Read the full description at Stephen McCauley
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What makes it funny?
David works with wealthy families on college admissions and notices how reliably parents describe their children as gifted. Julie has a similarly generous understanding of her own habits: she has given up marijuana, despite getting stoned almost daily.
The comedy at work
McCauley lets people explain themselves in reassuring terms while the details reveal what they are avoiding. The jokes reach from parental ambition to Julie's attempts to persuade herself that her life is under control.
Try this if…
Middle-aged characters who still need help finding a home give this comedy of manners its emotional weight. The appeal lies in affectionate observation and rueful one-liners about people making a mess of their second chances.
Good to know
Marijuana use and divorce are part of the setup. A subplot concerns an adult man targeting teenage girls; Publishers Weekly found its treatment heavy-handed.
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Sources & further reading
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Author
Author commentary
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