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- General fiction - |
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The Ladies Man |
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 The Ladies' Man byElinor Lipman Random House Canada (Vintage Books) 260 Pages, 1999 ISBN 037570731X Reviewed by Zaheera Jiwaji Elinor Lipman knows how to write provocative beginnings. In The Inn at Lake Devine, a family receives a letter from the owner of the Inn informing them that their reservations have been declined because they are Jews. In The Ladies' Man, a man from the past re-enters the life of three middle-aged women. Just his name - Harvey Nash - seems to provoke raised eyebrows and sharp intakes of breath. There is no choice but to read on. Harvey Nash, the romancer of the title, rings the doorbell of the Boston apartment of the Dobbin sisters. Thirty years ago, he failed to turn up at a party to celebrate the announcement of his engagement to Adele Dobbin. Instead, he changed his name to Nash Harvey and left for Hollywood to write for film scores. Now, he has returned because he wants to set things straight with Adele. Or - is he simply escaping from his reflexologist girlfriend in Los Angeles and his flagging career as a commercial jingle writer? The almost-bride Adele and her two sisters, Lois and Kathleen, live together. Adele and Kathleen never married, and Lois is divorced, a decision she quietly regrets. Through flashbacks and dialogue, we learn how deeply Harvey's breach of faith towards Adele, thirty years ago, affected all three. Harvey's sudden departure froze their lives into a series of cautious, wary, repressed steps; his return sets them spinning again. Oh no, Harvey is by no means heroic. He is a true cad, a philanderer of the first degree. However, Lipman manages to do the impossible, by making us like this rogue and at the same time, by celebrating the rebirth of the Dobbin sisters. The Ladies' Man is both funny and fierce. Some of the scenes are laugh-out-loud hilarious, with a heavy dose of the reality of loneliness and fear. The memorable characters are affectionately drawn, and when the book ends (too quickly), we wish we could lengthen our stay with the Dobbin sisters. |
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