By Laura P. Valtorta
“’She has a pretty
racy past, and she loves talking about it. And you know how I love airline
pilots and Italians.’”
Stephen McCauley writes a lot of light satire in My Ex-Life, the novel. Stuff like,
“She’d met and eventually married Henry Bell, an investment advisor David had
had the pleasure of never meeting.” The approach works.
McCauley makes the most fun of parents who had “fallen into
the trap of telling their kids they could do anything…going to Harvard,
retiring before ever working, giving an Oscar acceptance speech, and become the
next Mark Zuckerberg, except hot.”
The zingers only work because McCauley also makes fun of his
main character, David, who is gay and overweight and falls for impossible
“boys” who are younger than 40. Self-deprecation seems to be the secret to
keeping the narrator likeable enough to make fun of everyone.
It’s curious that McCauley’s villains, especially Renata,
are not especially funny. Renata is a calculating real estate broker, living in
San Francisco, who takes advantage of David in a way that makes the reader want
to punch her. This works only because Renata does not live a desirable life.
She subsists with her husband, the loathsome Leonard, and she thinks
uncircumsized men are exotic.
As I write Tall Woman
Orchestra, I try to infuse it with as much satire as possible without
making the reader cringe. Most of this involves Floris, the mad scientist, who
has a brilliant mind and a penchant for revenge. The reader must realize that
Floris, outside of her basement laboratory, is an awkward social prick who
cares nothing about appearances and seeks to bend people’s will to her own.
Floris is no Hedy Lamarr; she’s better.
The beauty behind Floris is that appearances mean nothing,
and she knows it. If she can control the world while wearing bedroom slippers,
why not do it? The greater Floris’ power, the less she needs to fuss with her
hair. Lamarr failed to understand this, which is why she died a recluse.
Skillful use of satire can get across more points more
quickly than any historical treatise or legal essay.
To take on satire means writing the narrow line that divides amusing from offensive. If taken too far, satire becomes ridicule, which reflects as much on the writer as on the fictional character. Floris is an engaging character. Let her rip!
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