Customer Reviews

Perfect Life: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jessica Shattuck's "Perfect Life" takes a satirical look at a group of former college chums in their mid-thirties who are, in some ways, still floundering emotionally. Neil Banks, in a moment of madness, agrees to donate his sperm to ex-girlfriend Jenny Callahan, whose husband is infertile. Laura Trillian adores her two young daughters, but her spouse, Mac, is too preoccupied with closing deals to pay much attention to his family. Molecular biologist Elise Farber has a gay partner, Chrissy, and two boys whom Chrissy conceived via an anonymous donor. For a number of reasons, Elise feels left out of Chrissy's birthing experience and her growing resentment threatens their relationship.

Shattuck draws us into the world of privilege in which these Bostonians live. The children have nannies, wear lovely clothes, and are destined to go to expensive private schools. Although the moms are all loving parents, each has issues that she is failing to address. Jenny is a bossy perfectionist who wants a neatly-ordered existence with no guesswork. In her opinion, "sloppiness and spontaneity breed unease." Laura is alienated from her husband ("It felt often as if she were invisible.") but lacks the courage to confront him with her dissatisfaction. Neil is in some ways, more lost than the rest of his former pals put together. He takes a job designing video games, but secretly longs to finish the research he had begun about an obscure American explorer. He is disgusted with himself for giving up his academic goals. After Jenny gives birth to Neil's biological child, to whom he signed away all rights, he becomes pathologically obsessed with the infant.

"Perfect Life" has some elements of soap opera along with satire and social commentary. There are plot lines concerning adultery, stalking, and serious illness that, fortunately, do not veer into melodrama. The author touches on the guilt and frustration of mothers who want to both nurture their children and realize their potential as working women. Shattuck is an inventive and crisp descriptive writer ("For Laura, getting out the door with the girls every morning was like launching a rocket ship.") whose well-crafted prose and sharply-honed dialogue flow smoothly. We come to understand and care about the main characters, warts and all, since the author takes the time to portray them as basically good-hearted, albeit troubled and somewhat self-absorbed, individuals. One throwaway character, a sexual predator named Galena, is tossed in the mix to wreak havoc; she is a one-dimensional opportunist with no redeeming features.

There are some amusing comic moments here and there, and the camaraderie between the friends is warmly and realistically depicted. Shattuck wisely wraps up the proceedings briskly, without irritating twists and turns. The ironic title refers to the pipe dream of men and women who expect everything to fall into place automatically: devoted spouse, good health, beautiful children, plenty of money, loyal friends, and a fulfilling job. In the real world, alas, perfection is unattainable.

I immediately was intrigued by this group of characters- so incredibly different in personalities and lifestyles, yet linked together from their college years, a time that stays with us as an ever-important formative period. Each character's take on a 'perfect life' was unique and brought to light a new perspective, and I really respected that the author didn't shove the novel's theme down the reader's throat-- there was enough subtlety to each character's eventual revelations that I was able to appreciate the connecting threads without it feeling too campy or forced.

If you appreciated "The Kids Are All Right" and/or the social satire of John Cheever, you might especially like this book. Here is a wonderfully conceived look at our awkward new world, in which no one quite knows how to navigate the social and tribal relationships that go with sperm donors, their offspring, gay parenthood, and the clinical possibilities for "perfect life." This book moves quickly, offering Shattuck's hilarious, touching and ultimately, serious, take on the human condition in 2010. This book will probably make you laugh, but also, think.

Shattuck's investigation of what we need to build the "perfect life" is a telling commentary from a observant and thoughtful commentator. The novel takes us into the aspirations and frustrations of four college friends who should be content with their lives: they are healthy, financially secure Americans living in a time of the infinitely attainable. But each character exposes a different flaw in our societally-sanctioned quest for perfect contentedness. Neil wants complete freedom from social norms that have consigned his peers to domestic trivialities, yet he cannot relinquish his intense connection to the biological son he's never known. Laura wants a fresh blueprint for maternal contentedness, but can venture no further than a passing fling with Neil. Chrissy dedicates her professional life to pushing the boundaries of bioengineering, but wants nothing more than to share the ancient rite of motherhood with her lesbian partner.

But it is in the unnerving character of Jenny Callahan that Shattuck strikes deepest at our futile and almost fearsome quest for the perfect life. Callahan is a powerful ad executive in pharmaceuticals, married to a successful entrepreneur who has obliged her every wish, including the seemingly outlandish plan to bear a child with the sperm of her college ex (Niel). After having her own child, Jenny is tasked with marketing medication for postpartum depression to women able to afford such ameliorative. The packaging - disguised as birth control pills - and advertising - "You deserve to enjoy your child" - are so brilliantly malicious that one cannot help but question a society that has led us to believe that life's less savory elements (professional frustration, strained relationships, temporary chemical imbalances) are experiences of which we "deserve" to be relieved. To this day I cannot hear that word without thinking of Jenny.

This novel enters the lives of four college friends, three women and one men. The three women still live close by each other and have all started a family. The male friend ends up coming back East to Boston, where the three women live, for a job. From there, we watch as their lives intersect and in some cases explode. A very entertaining story and worth the read.

I got through the book ONLY because I had two long card rides and no alternative reading material. Even so, I still had to skim-read the parts about video game design and genetic engineering.

I wasn't absorbed enough in the story to not be annoyed by the author's too-frequent use of the word "inscrutable," or by her incorrect use of "badly," as in "she felt badly for him." Grrr...

Like other reviewers here, I didn't care about the characters, either.

Give this book a miss. You're not missing ANYTHING.

This book treats creation and conception in its many forms: children conceived via anonymous sperm donors, a child conceived via a known sperm donor, a transgenic goat, a game chimera, a tapestry, an ad campaign, and more. It's about friendships, romantic relationships, and sexual relationships - and what they create. Neil is the character who sets the plot going and keeps it going. His own life is in disorder and he causes disorder wherever he goes, sometimes deliberately, sometimes not. (I cannot think of the literary term for such a character. It's not mischief maker, since that suggests more deliberation than is true for Neil most of the time.) Part of Neil's function is to reveal the characters of the three female friends who are the other foci of the book. Unlike the more negative reviewers on this site I found the characters well-drawn and found their lives appropriately complicated. I appreciated the way the three female friends were critical of each other, their partners, their parents, and Neil, but also appreciative of them and, sometimes, deeply loving. The three women and Neil are capable of self-insight and self-criticism. I found the book a delight.

I really liked this book! I think it's incredibly timely in terms of how "family" is a dynamic term that is evolving in our society. I thought the characters were interesting and I liked that the author didn't try to explain every aspect of them... it shows she respects her readers intellect and imagination. I think Perfect Life is a good summer read or would make a FABULOUS book club book as it'll certainly lead to discussion.

No one's life is perfect, no matter how hard they try to make it so, although some do succeed in making their lives look perfect from the outside. Former college roommates and long-time friends Jenny, Laura, and Elise all seem to be doing quite well. Laura has a successful husband and is a stay-at-home mom to their two young daughters; Jenny has a thriving career, a new baby boy, and a pending move to the suburbs; and Elise is engaged with her scientific research and her own family.

Jenny's baby was conceived with donor sperm, due to her husband's infertility, from a chosen donor - their old college friend Neil, an ex-boyfriend of hers whose life has gone adrift since he abandoned his doctoral dissertation. Elise's twin boys had similar origins, but from a different source, and are the biological children of her partner Chrissy. Chrissy is seeking out her children's biological half-siblings from the donor, and Elise, a biologist, is conflicted over her efforts. Meanwhile, Neil has chosen to violate the agreement that he made with Jenny - that he'd have no contact with any child produced from his donation - and has secretly returned to Boston.

One of the central themes in Perfect Life is played out through those storylines - what defines a parent? How much of a role does biology play, and without a biological connection, can parent and child be truly bonded? What about when biology is the only connection? Does a person have to have a family to have a happy, "perfect" life...and is that happiness deserved? What might people be willing to do to get the happiness they deserve?

There are some good questions here, and Jessica Shattuck's exploration of them kept me reading, but ultimately I felt that it fell short. I thought the material was good, but it seemed underdeveloped, and that was a bit disappointing. There were quite a few good scenes, but others really didn't seem to lead anywhere. The characters didn't feel fully fleshed out. I think Laura came the closest, and also found her the most likable; but considering how much of the story revolves around Jenny, I didn't think I really knew her well enough. "Sketchy" was the word that came to mind; the novel was like a series of related sketches, and I wish it had been more filled in, filled out, and connected. Perfect Life isn't quite a perfect novel, though - I think it doesn't quite live up to its potential. Having said that, I do think there's a lot of good discussion material here for a book group, and I'd read other novels by Jessica Shattuck.

Here's how my husband describes a French movie: "It starts off and you're introduced to all these characters who prattle on endlessly about next to nothing. Two-thirds of the way through the movie, you think a plot is finally developing. Then, after another thirty minutes, the credits roll and you're thinking, 'Well, there's two hours of my life I'll never get back.'"

"Perfect Life" is the book version of a French movie. It goes on and on, has a few high points, and then ends, to quote Eliot, "not with a bang, but a whimper." Basically, if I want to listen to a bunch of thirty-something disillusioned white people from mostly privileged backgrounds blather on about how much their lives suck, their marriages are stale and how nothing turned out the way they thought it would, I'll just get together with my friends and drink a few margaritas.

I gave it two stars only because I did manage to read it to the end, and it had an interesting premise: boy meets girl, girl breaks up with boy, girl marries infertile workaholic, girl asks former boy to provide sperm in order for her to conceive on the condition that he goes away and never shows up again. Who would have thought that would end up to be a problem??

But, I ramble. The fact is there are much better books out there. Go read some of those.