Stephen McCauley True Enough

 

Stephen McCauley   True Enough

published 2001

 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about books that disappear, and I’m not the only one interested – SO MANY people came and added their favourites to the list which (for brevity) I have described as ‘the books you find on charity shop shelves’. I think the post has more comments than any other I have ever done.

It is a generous category, but the original description was those books that maybe were not first rate, but had unlikely success, and then faded away.

Another topic that I consider frequently is the books that are the opposite: the deserving titles that never get their moment, the authors who are undervalued, who don’t get the status they should.

And in my own life/house, I am forever sorting through my books to see if I can donate them to those very charity shops: when I moved house a couple of years ago I gave away 3,000 books. And there’s still a lot left…

Anyway, all these themes came together when I picked up this book Stephen McCauley’s True Enough, an American novel from 2001.

So first of all, I cannot understand why he isn’t better-known: his books are marvels, funny and entertaining and with perceptive commentary on modern life. At the risk of sounding like an Amazon bot: if you like Katherine Heiny or Armistead Maupin, you would like McCauley. One of his books is on the blog here. I said then: McCauley is always very good on work and offices – the kind of conversations people have and the way they interact, and also how companies and organizations operate.(After reading each of his books, you would be sure that the author in real life did the job held by the main character.) That was Significant Others, from 2010 (with, I like to think, an excellent picture), and I note that I actually mention this one, True Enough, and say it was a bit different from the others. But still very good on the workplace: heroine Jane on her much younger co-worker ‘she could deal with Chloe’s beauty and youth, but there was no way to compete with someone willing and eager to actually learn from her own mistakes.’ (signs of 2001 – efficient young Chloe has a Palm Pilot)

There must have nearly been a moment for McCauley – when one of his novels was turned into a film starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, The Object of my Affection. That was 1998, when Aniston was very much a hot property. But then nothing happened. And he produces a new novel every couple of years, and I keep thinking he’ll hit the big time, but no. He even wrote a couple of novels about a yoga studio under a pseudonym, Rain Mitchell, and I read those too. (shoutout to Twitter mate @ernestpig - during lockdown we discovered a shared love of McCauley and The Pig introduced me to the yoga books)

He is very good at writing social occasions – when you know the characters are going to give or attend a dinner party you sit back and wait for joy to hit you. You will be laughing out loud.

But then there was one more feature of this book: it dealt with lost artistes of a previous generation. The story focuses on a singer in the end, but there is also a lot about a lost writer of the 1950s – one of the main characters writes a biography of Lewis Westerly (who is imaginary) and they discuss the interest of looking at lost bestsellers. So right up my street, just what I’ve been writing about.

‘it struck me that it was a mistake to focus on the greats in history when the mediocrities on the edges tell us so much more about the culture.’

This is Jane, who is a TV producer, and to be fair she is looking for an idea to sell rather than being wholly committed to this, but it IS a good idea. Great American Nobodies.

I loved this description of the 1950s bestseller: 

‘The psychology was laughable, the plot deplorable… no-one would accuse Westerly of being a brilliant stylist. He had a haphazard approach to sentences and an undisguised disdain for the logic of paragraphs… But he had the secret magic of a writer who could hold you to your chair and toss you into the middle of his imagined world, no matter how ludicrous or even offensive.’ 

This is so much how I felt about the lost books…

 

Jane, who lives in Boston, links up with Desmond, a gay visiting academic, and together they investigate a lost singer called Pauline Anderton, while trying to sort out their messy private lives. Jane’s son Gerald is difficult – I longed to introduce him to Matthew from Katherine Heiny’s Standard Deviation. I feel they would be friends (despite the books being 15 years apart).

Desmond has to miss a class or two ‘but someone who’d been hired to teach a course called Creative Nonfiction surely ought to be able to come up with a convincing excuse.’

Interesting details: this is 2001 and ‘a day didn’t go by when she didn’t worry about the rapid rise in global temperatures…’  And there is a 20yo intern: ‘Within ten years he’ll be ruling the world with his computer and media talents…’

The books are always sharp, and even snarky, but ultimately good-hearted and not too cynical. This one asks you to look out for what you are missing – is it in plain sight? Not the most original idea, but the way it links up the different plotlines is very clever and charming.

And by chance I found that Stephen McCauley published a new novel at the beginning of this year, You Only Call me When You’re in Trouble, so I will certainly read that.

 The pictures are from my goto source for smart people around the turn of the millennium: where else but the Tumbler featuring old Ralph Lauren adverts.  I describe finding this invaluable resource in this post. 

Man in white shirt Old Ralph Lauren Adverts (tumblr.com)

Hoody guy Old Ralph Lauren Adverts (tumblr.com)

Woman in white shirt Old Ralph Lauren Adverts (tumblr.com)

Woman in brown Old Ralph Lauren Adverts: Photo (tumblr.com)