Book Review: Dolly Alderton examines the life of a man who's re-examining it all
Dolly Alderton. Picture: Alexandra Cameron
- Good Material
- Dolly Alderton
- Fig Tree, pb €15.99/hb €26.60
Dolly Alderton styles herself as writer/journalist/broadcaster, and presents as entirely self-confident. She sings her own praises as part of the self-publicity which greases the axle of her career, and this is refreshingly honest. What, after all, is the purpose of false modesty?
Here is a woman who has marketed her lovely hair, pretty face, her witty repartee, and her understanding of, and compassion towards, other people’s emotional problems. She has worked as agony aunt on newspaper, specialising in affairs of the heart.
Here is her second novel, , which is about a 35-year-old stand-up comedian. The first-person narrator, perhaps surprisingly for one who has written and spoken so much about women’s lives, is a man. Andy Dawson is the sort of person that most parents might hope their daughter does not marry, in that his work is precarious and his income is both pitiful and irregular.
The story begins with devastation when Andy’s partner of four years, Jen, breaks up with him. Self-esteem may be essential to a performer, or it may be that performance, as someone other than oneself, can build an assurance which otherwise might dissipate. Whichever is the case, Andy is knocked sideways by the shock of being deserted and all other aspects of his life begin to crumble.
All around him, Andy’s mates are flourishing: a fellow comedian winning an award at the Edinburgh Festival and his other friends blossoming in marriage and fatherhood. No one really wants to share his misery with him, and efforts to take him down the pub to get drunk, whilst initially successful, fade away as, one by one, the men refuse engagements, preferring to stay at home with their wives and children and watch television.
Indeed, when he was part of a couple, Andy loved staying at home and curling up with a film streaming on his laptop, but when he tries it with Sophie, a 23-year-old woman who professes to like older men, he can hardly wait for the final credits before ushering her out of his bedsit into the cold of a winter’s night.
Sometimes it is hard to sympathise with Andy, even though he is funny and charmingly self-deprecating. He wallows in his unhappiness, obsessing on Instagram images of his former love and her new boyfriend. He does not ‘pull himself together’ and move on, but allows his already unstable existence to deteriorate.
Andy’s mum stays loyal, of course, longing for him to leave the capital and return home to Birmingham where he can live more cheaply, and she can make him cups of tea.
When he takes her out for her birthday to a posh London hotel, he is unable to pay for the miniature sandwiches, tarts, and fancies on the cake stand. In addition, as part of a new carbohydrate-free diet, he eats only the fillings, leaving all the bread and pastry piled at the side of his plate. He recognises that he is ruining her treat but, nevertheless, continues.
Alderton is a fan of Nick Hornby’s work, and particularly of which she regards as ‘being truthful about love’. Andy’s character resembles that of Hornby’s Rob Fleming and will probably be received in a similar manner. Some readers will smile at his quirks and neediness, whilst others will long for him to wake up and get his shit together.
Alderton does not criticise her protagonist; she seems to hold his hand as he takes baby steps towards recovery. Whether men will find Andy’s experience authentic is not for this reviewer to determine but squeals of ‘appropriation’ may flood the social media networks.
