Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
WELL.
I have lots of thoughts about this book.
First, let’s get this out of the way – there’s no doubt in my mind that this is an exceptionally well written book. Touching so many pertinent, relevant themes, Fleishman Is In Trouble is so 2020 (ok, so 2019 if we’re going by publication date). Brodesser-Akner really knows how to tap into the essence of what makes us people and delivers some exceptionally close to the bone observations about marriage, divorce, hitting middle age etc. The book also serves as a fantastic reminder that there really are two sides to every story and that more often than not, things aren’t as great as they seem.
Secondly, onto the facts. I’ve never read such a depressing book in my life. Not necessarily because of the subject matter – I mean yeah, divorce isn’t a happy topic, but my God these characters drained the life out of me. Pretty much everyone was an awful human being, and I had to force myself to read on. There was no part of me that was intrigued about what was happening to them, and when I feel that way I find motivating myself to read very challenging. The main character, Toby was by far the worst of a bad bunch. He had absolutely no redeeming features, nor, in my opinion, a valid reason to behave how he did.
Toby is vile, there’s no two ways about it. Obsessed with hooking up with women he matches with on dating apps (and masturbating), he is a sad, selfish man who resents his soon to be ex-wife for being successful. He is the epitome of entitled. There’s actually not much else to say about him as he doesn’t really have any depth. He’s a shallow, vapid, awful man who thinks the world owes him something because he’s short. The thought of there being people out there like Toby makes me shudder. Thank God I’ve been lucky enough (so far!) to not meet one.
Other characters don’t fair much better but at least have redeemable qualities and/or backstories that go somewhere to explaining their behaviour. Elizabeth (our narrator), is desperate to be anything other than a stay at home mum (which she is), she spends the majority of the book pushing her husband and children away whilst trying to claw back her old life. I got the impression she is thoroughly pissed off with being a woman (I mean, same) and lets the bitterness she feels about this take over her life. At least I could kind of understand this, her career in a male dominated world was stymied by the fact she was A. a woman and B. had children. So she gave up, both in protest of these facts and acceptance of them. No wonder she’s pissed off! And being pissed of makes you do shitty things like pull impromptu all-nighters with your old college friends instead of watching Ratatouille snuggled up with your kids and husband like you promised (does it though?). Seth is a lesser, Peter Pan type character who continuously dates women in their twenties in order to cling on to his youth. To be fair, he’s the only one who seems happy, so maybe he’s onto something. There is also a rota of recurring wealthy Upper East Side characters that are all just as awful as you’d imagine.
Rachel, who we spend most of the book disliking because of Toby’s depiction of her as a cold-hearted, work obsessed bitch, is actually a complex women who is determined to succeed and build a comfortable life for her and her family, making up for the fact she had the very opposite growing up. Toby, of course, is far too selfish and entitled to see any of this. He is just upset he isn’t the prime focus of Rachel’s life. Although Rachel is redeemed (somewhat – she still does some sketchy shit), the fact that you spend most of your time disliking her doesn’t make the book any more palatable.
I’m not sure what I was expecting with this book – I only read it as it was lent to me by a colleague – but from the dust jacket reviews, I did think it was going to be funny. Sadly, I don’t think I laughed once. I know that maybe some of the humour in this book was more subtle if-you-don’t-laugh-you’ll-cry type but it wasn’t working for me. At the very least, I think the reader was expected to laugh at Toby’s dating app experiences, but I just found them sad.
For me, Fleishman Is in Trouble is a “coming of middle-age” story. Although, maybe that’s a generous way to phrase it, as I’m pretty sure all the characters were actually just having a mid-life crisis. Perhaps it didn’t resonate as I’m not quite at that stage in my life yet? I don’t know, but it missed the mark for me. Maybe I’ll revisit it in ten years and see how I feel then.
Side note: this was not a good book to read in coronavirus lockdown. Feeling thoroughly depressed every time you read isn’t great when you’re already fed up. So, if it is on your to read list, maybe think about picking it up when all this madness is over!
Charlotte is writing 