Spiked with occasionally cutting commentary, wry turns of phrase, and some lively scenes in a slice-of-life style, I liked reading the Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. I've selected a few highlight passages to share here, without giving away too much. And I'll say more about my interpretation. On balance I find this novel good for what it is, but it does not rise to greatness. This will give you an idea what the story is about. The narrator refers to Nate, the protagonist:
"Contrary to what these women seemed to think, he was not indifferent to their unhappiness. And yet he seemed, in spite of himself, to provoke it.
"When he was twenty-five, everywhere he turned he saw a woman who already had, or else didn't want, a boyfriend. Some were taking breaks from men to give women or celibacy a try. Others were busy applying to grad school, or planning yearlong trips to Indian ashrams, or touring the country with their all-girl rock bands. The ones who had boyfriends were careless about the relationships and seemed to cheat frequently (which occasionally worked in his favor). But in his thirties everything was different. The world seemed populated, to an alarming degree, by women whose careers, whether soaring or sputtering along, no longer preoccupied them. No matter what they claimed, they seemed, in practice, to care about little except relationships." (p. 40- 41)
Let me clarify that I, personally, disagree with Nate's statement there, on several counts. And I believe it is unclear whether the author, Adelle Waldman, agrees with Nate or even likes him very much. Nate is a character in a fictive tale. The novel, in my view, does not propose to serve as a sermon on relationship ethics, nor as a how-to manual for relationship success (which some Amazon reviewers seem to assume or wish it were).
Nate, having shifted into a meaningful relationship that now is teetering, thinks to himself:
"Was this his life now? Nate wondered as she spoke. Sitting across from Hannah at various tables, in various restaurants and bars? Ad infinitum. Was this what he'd committed himself to the night they'd had that fight about brunch and he'd reassured her, told her that it was safe-- that he was into this?
"He tore off the slip of paper that kept his napkin rolled up and began toying with his knife and fork.
"He tried to focus on what Hannah was saying-- still about the copyediting job-- but he found himself wondering how much she needed the money. At the rate she was going, she'd never finish her book proposal. Besides, her father was a corporate lawyer. He didn't doubt she could get money from him if she needed it. A nice luxury if you had it." (p. 166-7)
With a later woman, Nate seems more seasoned, though not particularly wiser:
"Invariably, their fights ended, for Nate, in relief at realizing that Greer was not in fact nearly as unscrupulous or unintelligent as in anger he had painted her. Also, predictably enough, hot sex. Not even make-up sex so much as making up by way of sex. A moment would come when Nate would simply realize the absurdity of what they were fighting about; his anger would just turn." (p. 229)
To judge by some other Amazon reviews, it may be difficult to separate one's appraisal of Nate the fictive character in this novel from Nate as an assumed representative of testosterone in 21st-century urban, heterosexual dating in America. Some reviewers' low appraisals of the book sound like repudiation of a social type that author Adelle Waldman emobdies in Nate the protagonist. If that is so, this leaves open the question of whether Waldman's novel is doing something that art sometimes does - provoke a quizzical reaction to what you thought was familiar, hold your gaze, and pinch with discomfort.
I don't think Waldman makes any pretense to this novel being about all dating everywhere. Further, I do not think she tells us what to think or do. Waldman's story does not offer itself as a trail map to happiness in romance and sex today in New York City or anyplace else. Yes, a vibe of Brooklyn literati comes through, though I personally lack the life experience to judge whether that specific setting is depicted realistically here, or not.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P is not quite the tv show Sex and the City with a man's thought bubbles added and women's coffee chats subtracted. Though admittedly it is in that ilk, I suggest it's different. Compared with Sex and the City on tv, Waldman's novel about Nathaniel P. is less about New York or high living or the times; less about giving lessons; and it aspires to be more literary. It is about some characters who *may* feel real enough to be real, or not. You be the judge. These characters negotiate young adulthood moments and decisions. They look ahead and recall the past. They sometimes savor what is going on in the moment, and sometimes they miss it.
As many reviewers have noted, this semi-romantic novel tries to get inside the head of a dating dude, written by a woman. This I consider a welcome novelty that alone may interest some readers, men and women. Adelle Waldman's omniscient narrator sees plenty of Nate's ungenerous thoughts, self-absorption, and unkind behavior. Rather than indicting him and ending the story there, she lets him incite some empathy, both in the characters around Nate and possibly in the reader. We may end up both liking and disliking Nate, identifying in moments but perhaps disagreeing, or even pitying his entanglement in animal impulses and narrow thoughts. Or we may find him repugnant all the way through. A range of reactions seem valid. Waldman complicates the social ethics on view.
Some of the male reviewer interpretations on Amazon make interesting post-reading too. I would *not* box this novel in a "chick lit" category, though yes, fans of that genre might find Nathaniel P. a good read.
On the down side, as some other reviewers have noted, the story is thin on plot. In Waldman's next novel, one hopes for more.
One aspect of the narrative style, I'm not sure about. That is, Waldman tells more than she shows. And she employs a flashback device every time Nate encounters a character we're seeing for the first time. This is a risky narrative style in the age of 500 channels; although come to think of it, telling *is* making a comeback in reality show talk-to-the-camera takes.
Sometimes I found this novel to be a bit overwritten. In places it felt implausible for the character in the flow of the moment. Like here, Waldman has Nate putting florid words to leg hair visible over the rim of his sock:
"Elisa had introduced him to the concept of eyebrow grooming, just as she'd introduced him to many other aesthetic innovations, such as socks that didn't climb halfway up his calves. `Like tomatoes on a vine,' she'd said, frowning at the ring where his socks ended and his leg hair came bounding out, wild with gesticulative fervor." (p. 43)
And here:
"Nate went inside for another drink. While he waited at the bar, shrill peals of laughter rang through the beery air." (p. 94)
Does Nate really train his senses on this high-flung mixed metaphor of atmospherics while waiting at the bar?
The quality of the narrative comes and goes in waves, sometimes rolling up a nice little surge of wit, or social psychic insight. Sometimes a scene sizzles for a moment even as is shows misalignment in Nate's life with women. The writing comes off with more good touches than bad. On the whole, there is enough here to make the novel a good one.
Perhaps the Love Affairs of Nathantiel P isn't for everyone, but I'm glad I read it. I would say the story is cautiously exciting in spots and rueful at many points along the way, sometimes both in the same scene. Nate and his friends appear variously drifting or delighted, decadent or dilapidated, doomed or deplorable -- depending to some extent on what you make of them in that moment.
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