fiction
Toby and Rachel Fleishman, parents of two children aged 11
and 9, are separated and the novel describes their current lives as well as
their histories which led to their current situations.
I don’t believe I’ve ever read a novel where there is an
omniscient narrator speaking about the characters in third person and then,
after a while, she suddenly starts referring to herself. So, really, the novel
is a first person narrative but she’s speaking about someone else most of the
time as a person telling her friend’s story. In fact, she’s only a minor character in the
story. It was cool at first but then became annoying because this person would
have no way to be omniscient in reality.
So, while it was an original story-telling device (in my reading
experience), I was annoyed by it. And I was sort of shocked every time she
started referring to herself in the story. I had to stop and think about who
she was because she wasn’t a significant character.
The pages of Fleishman is in Trouble were filled with people I know—the struggles of
adults, married and unmarried, with children and without children, and people
who make questionable choices. I really felt validated by a lot of the commentary
about working mothers. However, I also grew tired of the inner thoughts of the
main character (Toby Fleishman) and the narrator (Libby). They were so wishy
washy. They were firm in their beliefs
and then they were full of self-doubt. They were in control of their emotions
and then they weren’t. Back and forth. Up and down. It grew a bit exhausting. I
mean, people’s opinions and feelings are moving targets so I get that people
can be wishy washy at times. But this novel just seemed to go on for too long
in the segments where the characters were having inner monologues. Also, the
whole point of the novel seemed to bemoan the status of women and the
institutions of marriage and parenthood. While most of the novel held my
interest and buy-in, the end seemed to just be whiny and made quite a pathetic
statement about the lives of married women.
Sure, I completely know people who have difficulty understanding
themselves and their motivations. But
there are also plenty of people who find happiness in their life decisions and
are able to be flexible enough to go with most of the curveballs life throws at
them. This optimist of a reader did not
really appreciate Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s doom and gloom.
This book addresses mental illness and how parents, or the
lack thereof, form a child’s personality and drives. I do believe these were
important insights. But it was also highly unbelievable that a loved one turns
up to be gone without a word or a trace for WEEKS and no one calls the police!
In what world would that really happen? How tragic and depressing. It didn’t feel real.
The novel paints an ugly picture of the dating scene these
days. I’ve been happily married for 30 years but I’ve been aware of methods via
which people can meet because of my own single mother, my friends who have
divorced more recently, and the phone apps I know of. However, I’ve never taken
such a deep, long-term look into the difficult and, often, distressing world of
dating. This book thrusts you into the reality of the good sides and the bad
sides of modern-day “hook-ups” and dealing with friends’ best intentions. And
it’s definitely scary. This book was
educational in that way. Toby is of my
generation so those aspects felt very believable and relatable.
I read this for book club and I do think it will generate
some good discussion.
The narrator of the audiobook was Allyson Ryan and she did a
good job with the material. My main
complaint is that she didn’t have too many different voices in her repertoire. I’ll
give her an A- since I did have trouble understanding who was speaking in
several character discussions.
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