A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel [Hardcover]

Michael Dahlie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2008

In this darkly hilarious and moving novel, a bumbling Manhattan blueblood must rebuild his life after his marriage and business fail.

Arthur Camden's greatest talents are for packing and unpacking suitcases, making coleslaw, and second-guessing every decision in his life. When his business fails and his wife leaves him-to pursue more aggressive men-Arthur finds that he has none of the talents and finesse that everyone else seems to possess for navigating New York society.

Arthur tries to reinvigorate his life with comic and tragic results: He dates women with no interest in him, burns down his Catskills fly-fishing club, runs afoul of the law in France, and disgraces himself before family members. Just when Arthur hits the depths of despair, an eccentric suitor (a woman who happens to resemble the model on Arthur's vitamin bottles) helps him take a leap into a wonderful unknown.

Michael Dahlie's novel digs into the consciousness of a self-doubting everyman-a man who, with a little inspiration, just might become something of a brilliant success.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Dahlie's entertaining debut, Arthur Camden is a fly fisherman, devoted husband and father, and minor Manhattan socialite who would like nothing more than to avoid troubling introspection. Yet his slow botching of the family import-export business and the sudden dissolution of his marriage certainly have something to do with his bursting into tears at a meeting of the Hanover Street Fly Casters—a men's club founded by his great-grandfather—and declaring his steadfast love for its members. This display of emotion is only the first crack in his reputation, and a sojourn to his son's Colorado ranch begins a retreat to the safety of the club's restricted world, while sorting out a bevy of complex feelings he struggles to recognize, let alone process. In the balance is nothing short of his identity and self-worth, stakes that debut novelist Dahlie makes abundantly clear with light comic touches. Dahlie's dry and understated portrayal of old upper-crust Manhattan is as crisp and authentic as a well-made gin and tonic; the various turns of plot are swift and precise; and one is soon rooting for Arthur to get his groove back. (June)
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Review

Portrait of a well-heeled wimp. When we first middle-aged New Yorker has reached his nadir. He has run the family import-export business into the ground, and his trampy wife Rebecca has fishing club, the Fly Casters, and he has his tearful breakdown in front of his fellow out. Then Arthur dates a woman called Rixa who rules to sneak in strangers. The evening is a disaster; accident-prone Arthur causes a fire and bursts into tears as the club burns down. Park Avenue apartment and enough money to sustain a work-free lifestyle. Time to escape Manhattan. He takes up the reluctantly proffered invitation of an old school friend with a nice spread in the French Alps, but Prentice Ross is no more a friend now than his erstwhile fishing alcoholic who lands Arthur in trouble with the cops; lacking the guts to deck Ross, Arthur beats a hasty retreat to Switzerland. Instead of a plot Dahlie arranges a series of scenes that humiliate Arthur without granting him self-knowledge; the point being, presumably, family reunion on Nantucket he steals his only to have its loud alarm incriminate him, a moment of primitive farce. Farce is followed by wild improbability when ex-wife Rebecca, quite drunk, pressures Arthur into meaningless sex, leading him to hope for a reconciliation. Fat an exercise in schadenfreude that is not remotely funny.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393066177
• ISBN-13: 978-0393066173
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars -----A Poignant, amusing and gentle story-----, July 15, 2008

By 

Judith Miller (Bluemont, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel (Hardcover)

In A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO GRACEFUL LIVING, Michael Dahlie presents us with a rather unique central character by the name of Arthur Camden. Arthur sounds perfect on paper. He is from old money. He has had many things handed to him, and lives what looks like an enviable lifestyle. Inherited wealth which allows him to be a member of New York society, nice homes, expensive clothes, the ability to dine in the best restaurants and to travel wherever he pleases. On the surface, Arthur seems very, very lucky.

However, Arthur's life is in crisis. His wife wants to divorce him for reasons he does not quite understand. He's ruined the family business and a vicious relative treats him with contempt in front of his son. His inherited membership in the very exclusive fly-fishing club called Maidenhead Grange is terminated because he broke an important rule of the club and ended up causing a fire. There are more than a couple of situations that turn out to be completely hilarious! Truth is, Arthur does not understand how any of these things happened. He always meant well and tried to do the correct thing and play by the rules. He searches his mind and memory to try to discern how all of the events came about, but again, he's not always sure how he could have done anything differently, but he wants to change.

In spite of the fact that Arthur does blunder along through life, it's true that he's a nice guy and means well. The real indication of a good story is when the reader personally cares what happens to the characters. With each page, I was cheering for Arthur and hoping against hope that he would not do what I could sense might be coming along in the next paragraph. The author takes the reader into the unforgettable life of a man who does his best to always be a gentleman. I believe that I have met an Arthur or two before in my life, but thanks to Michael Dahlie, now I may understand them a little better!

A very pleasurable read!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sorry to turn the last page..., June 27, 2008

By 

Frannie (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book has the wonderful quality of being sad, funny, and intriguing at the same time. As I got further in, I dreading finishing it and then having no more pages to turn. I am looking forward to Dahlie's next book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poor Arthur!, June 24, 2008

By 

Peter A. Arvidson (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's a page turner as the story unfolds of the misadventures of the protagonist Arthur. He's sort of a blue-blooded 'everyman' who faces one personal disaster after the next in his pursuit of peaceful, retirement years. I cringed at some of his pitfalls (the same way I cringed at the actions of the David Brent character in the BBC version of "The Office"). You can't help but cheer this guy on as he embattles his own damaged psyche and various foes. I especially enjoyed Arthur's ill-fated trip to see a childhood friend in France (things go wrong to say the least - well pretty much everything goes wrong for Arthur).Thanks to the author for a very enjoyable read with good laughs along the way.