Customer Reviews

True Enough

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Stephen McCauley just keeps getting better and better. This book has the same kind of witty, poignant observations about the human condition that his first 3 had, but with an added emotional depth and attention to subtlety. It is simultaneously hysterically funny and heart-breakingly melancholy as the two protagonists fumble their way through issues of commitment, career, marriage, children, and hitting middle age. This is the type of book that makes you wish the author were a friend of yours so you could invite him over to dinner and talk all night over coffee and cigarettes. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Reading this book was like chewing on a tough piece of meat - you keep chewing and chewing and there's absolutely no flavor and you never get anywhere. All you're left with is a soggy mess.
Don't get me wrong - I loved McCauley's previous novels, went to book signings in the Castro, met the dude (what a cutie) and chatted with him awhile. But that was a few years back. This one tends to make me believe that he must be going through a mid-life crisis to have written this colorless, odorless waste of time. It reads like one of Jane's fabricated program ideas, and perhaps that's what it is - the joke's on us, McCauley just wanted to see if we would read and `say' we enjoyed this just because it has his name on it.

Stephen McCauley is one of most incredibly insightful, perceptive writers I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. I stumbled across Alternatives to Sex, looked him up on Amazon and ordered everything else he'd written. I only wish he were more prolific. Deeply layered characters, well constructed plots that will have you examining yourself and your life as well as other's...McCauley is that rarest of things, a gay writer where the adjective becomes less important than the noun.

In terms of plot structure, it seems not much has changed for Stephen McCauley since Jane Austen came out with that simple line about "two or three families in a country village." Only now the village is global and the two or three families are extended and include one or two gay marriages as well.

Because of the author's intense dynamism and his insightful wit (I want to say one-liners because there are some brilliant passages) the plot is almost incidental: Desmond leaves his lover Russell to teach a course in Boston and meets Jane Cody who has become re-involved with her ex-husband while trying to understand where her life and those of her husband's and son's meet in harmony. There are a series of effective sub-plots: Russell's job and his state-of-the-art lesbian co-worker; a jaded widow writer whose success rests on a book entitled DEAD HUSBAND; Jane's be-wigged and judgemental mother-in-law; Jane's extraordinarily erudite six year old son; and a mysterious 60s female vocalist about whom Desmond is writing a biography.

I don't make the comparison to Jane Austen too glibly: just as Emma, Catherine and Elizabeth do, these modern characters discover what it means to love and learn better how to love, they become aware of their own mistakes and weaknesses while suffering the pain of recognizing their errors and amending the harm done. McCauley has his characters attend the most engaging parties during which they discover and reveal themselves with a punch, very much like Austen's gatherings where characters such as Darcy, Wickham and Henry Crawford display themselves perhaps more than they intended. Within the very serious subjects of love and self-awareness, the humor is astute and hilarious.

All this nonsense aside, McCauley's book is a pleasure to read, and far better than most of the current crop.

I enjoyed the novel, particularly all of the jazz references. Liked the main characters well enough, although had trouble believing them. Loved the title and how it applies to the material -- can something be untrue, but true enough for specific purposes?

The author set the bar high with his first two books, The Easy Way Out and The Object of My Affection. This is not close, but is so much better than his dismal third (Man of the House), it's a relief.

The situations and insights are pretty real and interesting; now can we just work on the characters? Seriously, Jane was neither interesting nor likable, which kind of killed half of the narration. Desmond was more likable, but I felt like he was lacking in a lot of self-awareness, which was frustrating in and of itself. The ending seemed sort of abrupt to boot. Still, an engrossing read and again, a lot of great insight I appreciated.

Stephen McCauleys book "True Enough" is a wonderful book where love, and all the probelms and challenges with it, is the main theme. It is written in a non-sentimental way and combined with humour and excellent observations of human behavoiur. What adds to its value is that this book is one of the relatively few gay novels where one get the feeling that there may be such things as long-term gay relationships - a long waited message in a fast sex centered culture, which for decades has been emotionally depraved but nevertheless is still very dominant. Gay or not, the persons in the book are also faced with the difficulties of preseving the affection and respect for their partners, however, the description of their struggles and how they handle and mishandle their love life is both inspiring and entertaining.

I truly enjoyed all of Stephen McCauley other books, and certainly wasn't disappointed with this new one, "True Enough." I enjoyed this story from the very beginning to its surprise ending. Stephen's books are always hard to put down, his likable characters are easy to become emotionally involved with, especially the ones in this story.

Desmond & Russell have been together five years now in a happy monogamous relationship living the good life in NYC. Desmond has been working on his second book, a biography of a 60's pop singer named Pauline Anderson, and after 3 years of writing it, he is almost finished. Desmond decides to take a temporary position at Danforth College in Boston, and be away from Russell for a while to see if he can find his own individuality again & perhaps find time to discover the missing ingredient to finish his biography. Will the separation deepen their relationship or cause problems they never expected to happen by being separated? Desmond meets Jane, a producer of a Boston PBS station while away, and they decide to collaborate on a documentary about forgotten pop singer Pauline Anderson. This could boast Jane's career at the station & perhaps help Desmond finally finish his book. Together Jane & Desmond help each other and eventually find the answers to each of their own personal problems. It's what they endure and discover at this point that makes this such a satisfying read.

No doubt about it, I love this author's writing. He knows how to grab your attention, keep it there, and bring it all to a satisfying conclusion. A very pleasant read. I eagerly await his next selection!

I enjoyed the novel, particularly all of the jazz references. Liked the main characters well enough, although had trouble believing them. Loved the title and how it applies to the material -- can something be untrue, but true enough for specific purposes?

The author set the bar high with his first two books, The Easy Way Out and The Object of Her Affection. This is not close, but is so much better than his dismal third (Man of the House), it's a relief.

"True Enough" brings eager readers the latest McCauley tale of self-deluded characters fumbling toward (and away from) love. As with his other novels, this one has a large cast of interesting persons, most of whom seem detached or alienated from a sense of what satisfies them in the romance department. Once again, McCauley examines the dynamics of the longer-term, more established partnerships as well as the budding romances. Once again, he provides a realistic and compelling voice to a major female protagonist. And once again, he shows us winning people with major warts engaging in frustrating, self-defeating behavior because they are so remote from what is genuinely gratifying.

There is less bittersweet quality in this novel than in the author's others; this time around the plot is bit more forceful as the reader is taken down alleys that threaten disaster for their unsuspecting travelers. In this novel McCauley has given both of the main characters-- gay and straight-- more confidence and less uncertainty. The characters glitter with an entertaining and not quite convincing blend of sharp analysis of their friends and associates on the one hand, with cluelessness about their own motivations on the other. Sarcasm and irony are wielded by the characters like fencing epees. The resolutions of the entwined stories are satisfying, given what passed before, but somewhat pat. McCauley is, however, well worth seeking out, especially his strongest novel, "The Easy Way Out."