Imperfect solo
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Average rating5
"Steven Boykey Sidley is an award-winning and multi-shortlisted novelist. His first novel, Entanglement won the UJ Debut Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and MNet Literary Award in South Africa. His second novel, Stepping Out was shortlisted for the UJ Main Fiction Award. Imperfect Solo is his third novel, and has been longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize in South Africa and selected for Le Grand Livre du Mois, France's most prestigious national literary book club. He currently lives in Johannesburg with his wife, Kate, and their two children."--
"Meyer is filled with dread. His fading musical aspirations, his tyrannical CEO, his ex-wives, his exiting girlfriend, his ageing father, his beloved and troublesome children and his confused and bewildered life all bear witness to the sky that he is convinced will soon fall on his head. And then it does. This is the story of a man adrift in anxiety, ill-fortune and comic mishap, buffeted by the existential and prosaic concerns that modern life in Los Angeles inflicts. Forty years old, caught in the netherworld between the reckless optimism of youth and the resignation of age, Meyer tries to find handrails and ballast. Funny, intellectually probing, and poignant, the story follows the flailing and hapless Meyer seeking hope and redemption as his world unravels around him. Surrounded by the absurdity of an ageing America, the affection of flawed but well-meaning friends and family and the randomness of everyday life, Meyer tries gamely to stay afloat. He must navigate love lost and found and lost, the indignities of ageing, the courage to stand up to assholes and the search for the perfect sax solo. Will Meyer find his grace? Can he, or we, ever?"--Provided by publisher.
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Got to admit, I have a thing for a fictional bad boy, but with certain caveats. A bad boy who does the outrageous things that a hero or a nice guy can't get away with is great, but they have to have a certain charm. I thought Meyer illustrated this really well. Yes, he is self obsessed and in the grip of a rather narcissistic mid life crisis, but I couldn't help but be charmed by his worldview developing throughout the novel. Meyer is suffering from a kind of existential dread brought on mainly by the realisation that he will probably never be a great jazz musician, his 40th birthday, family issues and worries that he's made all the wrong decisions, particularly about separating from his first wife, the mother of his son Innocent. Throughout this he is aided by his friend who is also a psychologist, Farzad.
This is black comedy but not completely black, Meyer is surrounded by a great cast of family and friends who end in some rather funny situations for him. I loved how his relationship with Farzad was depicted, they are utterly horrible to each other, trading racist insults but it's so natural. Meyer's father is also a great character. Yes, some tragic things happen, but at the same time the parts with the family are warmly depicted. Although Meyer is a bit of a misogynist, this is pointed out by the women in the novel, who give as good as they get. I particularly liked the meta reference that one of the female characters is doing a thesis on late 20th century male novelists and is quite dismissive of the worldview of some of them!
I found this a very entertaining, accomplished novel. It's philosophical, but this is handled with a light enough touch that it doesn't become too preachy.
