William Collins, a Boston realtor, has known for some time that his habits are slipping out of control, but "I figured that as long as I acknowledged my behaviour was a problem, it wasn't one". He finally decides to do something about his compulsive cleaning binges, his lacklustre sales figures, and his penchant for nightly anonymous online sex, but he needs a role model for calm stability. Enter Charlotte O'Malley and Samuel Thompson, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect apartment in the city. 'Happy couple' William writes in his notes. "Maybe I can learn something from them". But what William learns challenges his own assumptions about love, real estate and desire. And what they learn from him just might unravel a budding friendship, not to mention a very promising sale. Stephen McCauley's new novel is a cunningly spun chronicle of life in post-traumatic, morally ambiguous America, where the heartfelt desire to do good is constantly tripped up by the need to feel good.
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- 'Hilarious, poignant and true. Wickedly insightful about the new millennium's two greatest obsessions: Sex and Real Estate' Darren Star, creator of Sex and the City
- 'For my money, his prose is some of the best around - graceful and sturdy and blessedly free from pretension' Armistead Maupin
- 'His style reads as if Anne Tyler had been drafted on to the writing team of Sex and the City' Guardian
- 'His characters spring effortlessly to life, and his prose is a joy to read. If you haven't tasted McCauley before what are you waiting for?' Gay Times
- 'McCauley's engaging fifth novel recalls the odd, impulsive behaviors that overtook Americans in the year following September 11, 2001... McCauley gets it exactly right' James Klise, Booklist
- 'McCauley delivers the promise of emotional progress for his flawed, charming protagonist in this clever take on the desire for love, sex and real estate' Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Stephen McCauley is the author of The Object of My Affection, made into a film starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, True Enough, The Easy Way Out and The Man of the House, all available from Granta Books. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Now in his early forties, William Collins admits he's suffering from a kind of predictable midlife malaise, and like many others post 9/11, he wonders where things are going. The past year has been a post-traumatic time of uncertainty and anxiety for the whole country, and William life has been so exception. Currently working as a Boston realtor, William classifies himself as an obsessive compulsive, whether he's neurotically cleaning his apartment or looking for guys to hook up with over the Internet, he's always droll and totally aware of his shortcomings.
But lately, William feels as though he's had enough of the anonymous sexual encounters; the timing of them during the past year, a combination of makeshift management and fatalism of "the better-get-it-while-you-can variety." Determined to remake himself, William decides to embark on a career of abstinence, determined to approach the question of his spirituality, even practice the tedium of vacuum cleaning, hoping that it will provide a reliable alternative to sex.
Even reading Simone de Beavoir and arranging dinners with his airline steward friend Robert can't assuage William's insecure feelings; it's as though he's living in the cold waters of semi-reality, "trying to swim from one set of delusions to the temporary safe harbor of the next." It doesn't help that Robert, now prone to panic attacks at 35,000 feet, is planning to quit the airline industry and movie to San Diego with his best friend Marty.
And then there is the problem of Kumiko, William's passive aggressive tenant who lives in the apartment below him, and who owes William three thousand dollars in back rent, yet refuses to pay. The fact that William has allowed himself to be exploited by her has regretfully made him feel morally righteous, yet also quite guilty for feeling this way. His boss Gina has also been hounding him about his poor work performance, and it is only through selling to his new clients Charlotte and Samuel, a yuppie couple who are hoping to find an apartment in the city, that William sees any hope of making money.
His job performance, the Kumiko debacle, curiosity about Edward's plans for big changes and the fact that he keeps acting on impulse, seeking out sex with guys at a moments notice, doesn't alleviate the fact that he really loves Robert, and he just can't keep it at the level of a complicated friendship any longer. " I felt closer to him than I'd felt in years, as if the two of us were connected by a strong intangible bond, I'd taken entirely for granted and just now realized was immutable."
The fleeting physical pleasures of William's erotic adventures are blended in with the feelings of disappointment and regret, as though they have all become part of the same experience. In this tale of money, real estate and love, author Stephen McCauley instills in his protagonist a catty, incisive and biting sense of humor, his reactions to the world around him a series of low-key, brittle judgments, his flaws and eccentricities drawn with a deft and clever precision.
The novel is written from the standpoint of a certain age, a single man in his early-forties, with the cynical and world-weary wisdom of midlife. The narrative is complex, William's inner life is carefully recorded, and his thoughts, timely and honest: "In the end most people just wanted to be left in peace to f*ck, overeat, doze off watching the evening news and sleep through the night without having to get up too often to p*ss." And with pretty people:" its as though there's something wearying about lugging around the burden of beauty, always being the object of admiration and envy."
The Alternative to Sex is never maudlin or depressing even though the characters are desperately searching to connect in a world now fraught with hostility and danger. In William, McCauley has yet again, created a totally unique and distinctive voice, his observations of the people around him showcasing the human condition with all its flaws, foibles and insecurities. Mike Leonard March 06.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Benjamin
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
William Collins is in his forties, gay, a Boston realtor (estate agent), he is comfortably off and perhaps lacking a little drive as far as his work is concerned, but more worryingly his private life is getting a little out of control. In addition to his compulsive cleaning habits for the last year he has become increasingly addicted to nightly anonymous gay sex, tie ups he makes on-line. He decides it is time he did something about his habits and so decides to correct his ways.
While not immediately successful, he does eventually make some progress, but more important is what happens on the way. He becomes overly involved with his newest clients, a wealthy couple seeking an apartment in Boston, and finds himself, more than reluctantly, trying to sell his best friend Edward's apartment. Edward is a gay air steward who is finding his job increasingly traumatic post 9-11, and is planning to move away to start a new life working for his recently found friend, a butch ex-soldier with who offers an aggressive assertiveness programme. William not only has doubts about the wisdom of Edward's decision, he neither likes nor trusts Edward's new friend, but more importantly he is seriously going to miss Edward.
As his latest sales approach completion his private life both begins to resolve itself at the same time as presenting William with more decisions, especially in regard to Edward.
Alternatives to Sex is an engaging and very funny well written story, as one has come to expect from its author. It does initially seem a little uninvolving, as much perhaps because until we get to know the characters the humour seems to take centre stage, but as we get to know William and others it improves markedly.
While not immediately successful, he does eventually make some progress, but more important is what happens on the way. He becomes overly involved with his newest clients, a wealthy couple seeking an apartment in Boston, and finds himself, more than reluctantly, trying to sell his best friend Edward's apartment. Edward is a gay air steward who is finding his job increasingly traumatic post 9-11, and is planning to move away to start a new life working for his recently found friend, a butch ex-soldier with who offers an aggressive assertiveness programme. William not only has doubts about the wisdom of Edward's decision, he neither likes nor trusts Edward's new friend, but more importantly he is seriously going to miss Edward.
As his latest sales approach completion his private life both begins to resolve itself at the same time as presenting William with more decisions, especially in regard to Edward.
Alternatives to Sex is an engaging and very funny well written story, as one has come to expect from its author. It does initially seem a little uninvolving, as much perhaps because until we get to know the characters the humour seems to take centre stage, but as we get to know William and others it improves markedly.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars
32 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightfully entertaining novel.
2 April 2006
By I. Sondel
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I've been meaning to read Stephen McCauley (the author of "The Object of My Affections") for years. Happily, "Alternatives to Sex" has proven a great place to start. A social commentary and observational portrait of a forty-something gay man, this is the sort of novel once referred to as a comedy of manners.
At forty-four William Collins has discovered that his well appointed life, though expertly decorated and certainly clean (he's an obsessive compulsive), is both sterile and empty. William seems emotionally adrift, looking for sex in all the wrong places when what he's obviously seeking is love and companionship. He resolves to give up anonymous sex and focus on his professional and spiritual lives.
As a real estate agent William is a bust in a booming market. However, it is through his Boston real estate office that we meet most of the characters that populate McCauley's wonderfully inventive narrative. Most notably we meet Edward, a flight attendant prone to panic attacks since 9/11, who finds that unrequited love truly is a bore, and though he's got it pretty bad, he's ready to give up all hope that his friendship with William will ever blossom. So, though love may be just around the corner, our hero is just myopic enough that he has to walk around the block a dozen times before he stumbles upon it. It is to the author's credit that we as readers don't mind taking the walk with these characters, and hoping that William will open his eyes to the happiness right in front of him.
"Alternatives to Sex" is most decidedly an entertainment, the kind of novel Mrs. Smiley (from "Cold Comfort Farm") might refer to as amusing and diverting, so good it has inspired me to look for other books by McCauley. I can't think of higher praise than that.
At forty-four William Collins has discovered that his well appointed life, though expertly decorated and certainly clean (he's an obsessive compulsive), is both sterile and empty. William seems emotionally adrift, looking for sex in all the wrong places when what he's obviously seeking is love and companionship. He resolves to give up anonymous sex and focus on his professional and spiritual lives.
As a real estate agent William is a bust in a booming market. However, it is through his Boston real estate office that we meet most of the characters that populate McCauley's wonderfully inventive narrative. Most notably we meet Edward, a flight attendant prone to panic attacks since 9/11, who finds that unrequited love truly is a bore, and though he's got it pretty bad, he's ready to give up all hope that his friendship with William will ever blossom. So, though love may be just around the corner, our hero is just myopic enough that he has to walk around the block a dozen times before he stumbles upon it. It is to the author's credit that we as readers don't mind taking the walk with these characters, and hoping that William will open his eyes to the happiness right in front of him.
"Alternatives to Sex" is most decidedly an entertainment, the kind of novel Mrs. Smiley (from "Cold Comfort Farm") might refer to as amusing and diverting, so good it has inspired me to look for other books by McCauley. I can't think of higher praise than that.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant Page-Turner
21 Jun 2006
By Richard Nelson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book definitely has its moments. The characters are cleverly drawn, from the neurotic narrator, William, to his fastidious flight attendant friend, Edward, to pugnacious ex-marine and professional motivator Marty.
There are moments of delicious irony, like when William talks to a real estate client about a salacious book she wrote about female sexuality that sold well because of its clever title, Come Again. Clearly McCauley chose his title for the same reason, though for me it had the effect of drawing a few vexed looks from people who saw me reading it.
And there are moments of profundity, appropriate as this is, more than anything else, the story of William figuring out what really matters. (He begins the book addicted to internet-arranged trysts and ends it with a notion of what it means to love someone.) His talks with his mother about the nature of love add up to an important lesson.
Just don't slow down! If you do, you'll figure out what's coming, and once you do you'll also begin to notice that there aren't enough pages left for it to happen. That's because it doesn't--McCauley chooses to end the book on the verge of the development it leads up to, rather than giving the reader the satisfaction of witnessing it. Perhaps this is meant to tell us that the journey to understanding what matters is more important than the destination, but it makes turning the last page a bit sad.
Nevertheless, this is a quality novel, but light enough to be perfect for summer. Definitely recommended, especially if you're looking for an interesting plot, pleasant but slightly warped characters, and plenty of wry humor.
There are moments of delicious irony, like when William talks to a real estate client about a salacious book she wrote about female sexuality that sold well because of its clever title, Come Again. Clearly McCauley chose his title for the same reason, though for me it had the effect of drawing a few vexed looks from people who saw me reading it.
And there are moments of profundity, appropriate as this is, more than anything else, the story of William figuring out what really matters. (He begins the book addicted to internet-arranged trysts and ends it with a notion of what it means to love someone.) His talks with his mother about the nature of love add up to an important lesson.
Just don't slow down! If you do, you'll figure out what's coming, and once you do you'll also begin to notice that there aren't enough pages left for it to happen. That's because it doesn't--McCauley chooses to end the book on the verge of the development it leads up to, rather than giving the reader the satisfaction of witnessing it. Perhaps this is meant to tell us that the journey to understanding what matters is more important than the destination, but it makes turning the last page a bit sad.
Nevertheless, this is a quality novel, but light enough to be perfect for summer. Definitely recommended, especially if you're looking for an interesting plot, pleasant but slightly warped characters, and plenty of wry humor.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just wonderful!
11 Aug 2006
By D. Bradbury-Powell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The only bad part of this novel is that it ends. Had read all Mr. McCauley's other novels, and adored them. This one seems more mature and developed than the other books. I'm a sucker for characters in ruts that evolve and "grow-up" (as a character in the book, Marty, would say) and this novel did not disappoint. It's true that there weren't many suprises, but who needs those, in real life we figure out what others should do long before ever they do. The narrative is somehow a page-turner, yet moves slowly enough to flesh out so many realistic supporting characters as well. It was thrilling and heartwarming to witness William's transformation to adulthood without having morality crammed down our throats. I look forward to Mr. McCauley's next book.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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