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A terribly funny and lovably louche novel about five friends growing older, if not always up, from Andrew Martin, author of Early Work and Cool for America.
Without Cassandra, Aaron would probably be dead. Fortunately, she won't leave him-despite the drinking, flirting, solipsism, armchair socialism, overspending, infidelity, catastrophic depression, and disparate but increasingly frequent spells of drug- and booze-addled debauchery. Unfortunately, she might be reaching the end of her rope.
Cass and Aaron, like the other neurotic, ambivalent intellectuals in their orbit, are getting older. There's Malcolm, with his own alcoholism and marginally more successful writing career; his partner, Violet, a nurse with little patience for both; Antonia, a teaching fellow whose book about ecocide may get her tenure at a prestigious university near Harvard Square-yes, that one. When Sam, a charming trust-fund punk at the center of this loose network, dies suddenly, and a global pandemic takes hold, all five must contend with the lives they've made: their desires and disappointments, habits and hang-ups, pathologies and addictions, and the possibilities of making art and being good as the earth whirls to its end.
Down Time marks the delightful return of Andrew Martin, the author of the pitch-perfect slacker classics Early Work and Cool for America. Compulsively readable and contagiously intelligent, this is a wryly comic social novel of settling down, selling out, growing up, and getting out that turns a terribly funny and hyper-literate eye on our most desperately guarded ambitions: to love and be loved, to know and be known, to stay sane, if only just. Andrew Martin is the author of Early Work, a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the collection Cool for America. His stories and essays have been published in The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, Harper's Magazine, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine. He lives in New York with his partner, Laura, and their dog, Bonnie.
Without Cassandra, Aaron would probably be dead. Fortunately, she won't leave him-despite the drinking, flirting, solipsism, armchair socialism, overspending, infidelity, catastrophic depression, and disparate but increasingly frequent spells of drug- and booze-addled debauchery. Unfortunately, she might be reaching the end of her rope.
Cass and Aaron, like the other neurotic, ambivalent intellectuals in their orbit, are getting older. There's Malcolm, with his own alcoholism and marginally more successful writing career; his partner, Violet, a nurse with little patience for both; Antonia, a teaching fellow whose book about ecocide may get her tenure at a prestigious university near Harvard Square-yes, that one. When Sam, a charming trust-fund punk at the center of this loose network, dies suddenly, and a global pandemic takes hold, all five must contend with the lives they've made: their desires and disappointments, habits and hang-ups, pathologies and addictions, and the possibilities of making art and being good as the earth whirls to its end.
Down Time marks the delightful return of Andrew Martin, the author of the pitch-perfect slacker classics Early Work and Cool for America. Compulsively readable and contagiously intelligent, this is a wryly comic social novel of settling down, selling out, growing up, and getting out that turns a terribly funny and hyper-literate eye on our most desperately guarded ambitions: to love and be loved, to know and be known, to stay sane, if only just. Andrew Martin is the author of Early Work, a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the collection Cool for America. His stories and essays have been published in The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, Harper's Magazine, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine. He lives in New York with his partner, Laura, and their dog, Bonnie.
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Reviews
"In New York City, during the early days of the pandemic, four adults in their 30s seek purpose. Or, at least, connection. The four narrators effectively convey their characters' flaws and struggles in the midst of an unprecedented global pause. Major Curda is disarming as the curious, complicated Aaron, dealing with addiction since he was 16. Gail Shalan subtly conveys Cass, Aaron's persevering spouse, who remains with her partner despite his frequent relapses with alcohol. Patrick Harrison's Malcolm, who is teaching a course on outsider artists and anything else he wants to talk about, is both arrogant and compelling. Abigail Reno embraces Antonia, the climate researcher seeking a tenure-track job, with perfectly dry observations.
All four performances are consistently humorous, real, and winning."
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