The Kept Man by Jami Attenberg
I loved the writing. The author has a way of getting to the heart of a situation with both eloquence and efficiency.
I liked the story. Jarvis is a half-widow, her artist husband has been in a coma for 6 years. She leads a very sheltered life having withdrawn into her loft, only leaving to visit her husband and interacting with two other people (the art dealer, and the husband's best friend). After her dryer breaks, she is forced to enter the outside world with a trip to the laundromat. There she meets 3 men - The Kept Man club (wives are the breadwinners)- who meet once a week and share their frustrations. The story flashes between the present and her memories of her husband, their courtship, his art, their relationship.
I didn't like Jarvis. It is in the flashbacks, where the character of Jarvis begins to seem not fully formed. It is difficult to believe that her former and present selves are the same. She was smart, wild, and perceptive before she married. After, she was dependent, dull witted and gullible. And in six years there was never any sign of the old Jarvis. I had a hard time reconciling her stark contrasts, they just didn't seem true. And then after meeting these guys, she transforms yet again, but remains unlikeable.
I still think it is a solid read - and would make a good book club discussion. And I look forward to reading more from this writer.
Here is an excerpt from page 23, when Jarvis explains what it's like to navigate in her world as a half-widow:
"Some of them were jealous, too, these artists who suck up emotion from everyone around them and spit it out on the canvas like babies regurgitating mother's milk. I think they were jealous because my suffering was authentic while the only thing they had to complain about was the occasional broken heart or bad review."
That doesn't just apply to the art world, now does it?
The End.
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