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Insignificant Others (2010)

by Stephen McCauley(Favorite Author)

3.42 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0743224752 (ISBN13: 9780743224758)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: Richard Rossi, an HR professional at a software company in Boston, seems to be doing well in life. His job is stable - and he's being considered for a promotion - and things are going well with him and his partner, Conrad. But when Richard discovers a text message on Conrad's phone just prior to another of Conrad's business trips to Ohio, he finds himself wondering if things are quite as 'together' as they appear. But does Conrad have what Richard refers to as an 'Insignificant Other'? And, as Richard examines the choices he's made and the truth of his own life, what does it mean to him if his suspicions are true.McCauley's first-person narrative is definitely an interesting read. There's a definite reality to Richard that I found easy to relate to (even his distaste ... morefor President George W. Bush, which comes up more than once) and an interesting development in Richard's character over the course of the book that seems natural and not forced at all. The writing is broken down into small sections (I wouldn't say chapters because some are as short as a page or less and others are a few pages long) which make it easier to follow the shifts in Richard's thoughts and feelings. This format did throw me just a bit at first as I was unclear on timelines, but after I was few pages in, I had little trouble following along.It's definitely an interesting commentary on doing what's expected versus what we want and finding a way, no matter where you are in life, to be true to yourself. A recommended read.
review 2: This, like all McCauley's stories, is readily accessible; a guilty pleasure in the vein of "chick lit." Wading through the plodding, detailed back story about each character is exhausting though. Better when the details about characters emerge organically from the tale. Much more elegant. I wound up quite liking, Richard, the main character, despite his snarky, jaded perspective on many things. And I also appreciated the nice, somewhat unexpected evolution of his relationship with Doreen, his SO's fag hag and business partner. The SO character, Conrad, though, was so poorly developed. How could that relationship not fail? less

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