Books › Straight Man
Straight Man
First published 2002 · 486 pages
A hilarious, big-hearted romp through the petty grievances of academia and the messy realities of a midlife crisis.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like sitting in a dive bar with your smartest, most cynical, yet secretly soft-hearted friend as they recount the worst week of their life. The pace is brisk and escalating, driven by the sheer absurdity of academic politics and the protagonist's own self-destructive impulses. Yet beneath the wry, laugh-out-loud satire lies a deeply autumnal mood, steeped in the quiet anxieties of aging, marital endurance, and the looming shadow of parental expectations. The prose is sharp and effortlessly conversational, delivering biting observations that suddenly pivot into moments of profound tenderness. It is a perfect match for anyone who loves campus novels and finds comfort in the hilarious, messy, and ultimately forgiving nature of human mediocrity.
- Mood
- autumnal
- chaotic
- warmly cynical
- absurdist
- Tone
- wry
- self-deprecating
- satirical
- affectionate
- sardonic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- academic absurdity · midlife crisis · marital endurance · fear of mediocrity · parental legacy
- The writing
- Sharp, witty, and effortlessly conversational, balancing biting comedic satire with moments of profound, quiet grace.
- The arc
- Begins in a state of cynical, chaotic detachment and gradually softens into a tender, grounded acceptance of life's messy limitations.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in campus novels, middle-aged existential dread, and laughing out loud at the petty grievances of smart, deeply flawed people.
Content notes
- infidelity themes
- aging and illness
- comedic threats to animals
About the book
William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at West Central Pennsylvania University.
Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a goose, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park.
Description from Open Library.
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