The narcissism of small differences

Detroit hipsters hit middle-age and discover uncomfortable compromises but also new opportunities for authenticity. Ana and Joe have coasted into their forties by running on the heady fumes of Gen-X cool. He's a freelance cultural journalist, pitching underfunded magazines and drowning his sorrows in local microbrews. She has iconoclastic taste--1970s folk-rock, 1930s screwball comedies, mid-century graphic design--but somehow has ended up at the precipice of an unsettlingly traditional ad-agency career. The joys of cohabitation have dissolved into routine; their sex life has fizzled out. New opportunities--a morally challenging account for Ana, the Dollar Daily circular for Joe--break the malaise but also expose the limitations of their relationship. Zadoorian (Beautiful Music, 2018) leans heavily on brand names, music references, and gratuitous shout-outs to Detroit cultural fixtures. But his message--that as we get older, it's okay to reimagine our lives and maybe even sell out a little, as long as we stay true to our authentic selves--is earnest. And a side plot that takes Joe through some grand theaters of yesteryear, now dangerously decrepit, provides moments of genuine poignancy.

Zadoorian (The Leisure Seeker) serves up a wry, unflinching tale of an underachieving couple in midlife crisis mode as the recession grips the industrial Midwest. Joe and Ana live in Ferndale, Mich., a mile outside Detroit, where they've been shacked up (but not married) for 15 years. Joe's a freelance journalist just getting by, while Ana, once an aspiring documentary filmmaker, works in advertising and has become the breadwinner. Despite their cramped living quarters, they live in separate spheres. While Ana befriends and fantasizes over a coworker, Joe stays out late drinking and, while home, develops a heavy porn habit. After Ana catches Joe at the screen, she expresses doubts about their relationship and ongoing living situation. Things don't get any easier at work. Ana questions how far she's willing to stray from her progressive values to serve a Christian client, and Joe is reduced to a "telemarketing Willie Loman," selling ads for a newspaper. Zadoorian's comedy of contemporary manners resonates by virtue of its introspective characters and depictions of the small moments in life that, taken together, have great significance. Piquantly titled chapters ("Out Come the Freaks") provide additional comic snap. Zadoorian's subtle, timely story hits the mark. (May)

Detroit 2009--a once vital city ravaged by globalization, like many other cities in the former industrial Midwest. Good jobs are hard to find, and Joe and Ana, a longtime unmarried couple both in their late 30s, each struggle with jobs they don't like and a relationship of which they have become uncertain. They love Detroit and each other, but they are at a breaking point, needing to make serious choices about their futures. They feel a great deal of pressure to do what couples their age are supposed to do--get married, have children, and take out a mortgage. Ana has built a successful career in advertising, but she is finding this work increasingly soul-crushing. Joe has always wanted to be a writer, but he has had to support this dream with a series of increasingly dead-end jobs in a dying trade--journalism. Zadoorian (Beautiful Music; The Leisure Seeker) brings their travails and their relationship skillfully to life in this warm, surprisingly playful novel about middle-age crisis. VERDICT Zadoorian's obvious affection for Detroit, along with his enthusiasm for his characters' pursuit of meaningful lives, makes this a very enjoyable read. Recommended for fans of literary fiction and contemporary love stories.--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

A Detroit couple faces personal and professional challenges. The latest novel by Zadoorian (Beautiful Music, 2018, etc.) explores the lives of two people questioning the relationship they've been in for the last 15 years. It's 2009; Ana Urbanek and Joe Keen live a comfortable life in Detroit. Ana works in advertising, where she makes a good living. Joe is a freelance writer, and his income is far more variable and intermittent. While the economic disparity between their professions leads to some tension within the relationship, it's minor. Though they've been together for a while, neither Joe nor Ana has an interest in having children, and even marriage is something that seems overly formal. As both turn 40, however, the occasion makes them question their choices in life. Ana gets a promotion at work while Joe takes a day job; each of those offers its own challenges to their senses of self and to the relationship they've nurtured for so long. These themes are accentuated by the choice of setting, both in terms of the city and in terms of the year. Detroit in 2009 is depicted as a place whose glory days are behind it and whose future is uncertain. Ana and Joe are neither fortune-seeking gentrifiers nor grizzled veterans, and their need to find a specific place where they belong makes for some of this novel's most affecting moments. The parallel narratives don't quite line up, as Ana's challenges, including doing work for an organization she feels ideologically opposed to and grappling with a potential workplace romance, feel several echelons higher than Joe's. But overall, Zadoorian concisely evokes his protagonists' struggles. This novel's stakes can sometimes feel too modest, but its empathy and lived-in qualities are both appealing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Detroit hipsters hit middle-age and discover uncomfortable compromises but also new opportunities for authenticity. Ana and Joe have coasted into their forties by running on the heady fumes of Gen-X cool. He's a freelance cultural journalist, pitching underfunded magazines and drowning his sorrows in local microbrews. She has iconoclastic taste—1970s folk-rock, 1930s screwball comedies, mid-century graphic design—but somehow has ended up at the precipice of an unsettlingly traditional ad-agency career. The joys of cohabitation have dissolved into routine; their sex life has fizzled out. New opportunities—a morally challenging account for Ana, the Dollar Daily circular for Joe—break the malaise but also expose the limitations of their relationship. Zadoorian (Beautiful Music, 2018) leans heavily on brand names, music references, and gratuitous shout-outs to Detroit cultural fixtures. But his message—that as we get older, it's okay to reimagine our lives and maybe even sell out a little, as long as we stay true to our authentic selves—is earnest. And a side plot that takes Joe through some grand theaters of yesteryear, now dangerously decrepit, provides moments of genuine poignancy. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Detroit 2009—a once vital city ravaged by globalization, like many other cities in the former industrial Midwest. Good jobs are hard to find, and Joe and Ana, a longtime unmarried couple both in their late 30s, each struggle with jobs they don't like and a relationship of which they have become uncertain. They love Detroit and each other, but they are at a breaking point, needing to make serious choices about their futures. They feel a great deal of pressure to do what couples their age are supposed to do—get married, have children, and take out a mortgage. Ana has built a successful career in advertising, but she is finding this work increasingly soul-crushing. Joe has always wanted to be a writer, but he has had to support this dream with a series of increasingly dead-end jobs in a dying trade—journalism. Zadoorian (Beautiful Music; The Leisure Seeker) brings their travails and their relationship skillfully to life in this warm, surprisingly playful novel about middle-age crisis. VERDICT Zadoorian's obvious affection for Detroit, along with his enthusiasm for his characters' pursuit of meaningful lives, makes this a very enjoyable read. Recommended for fans of literary fiction and contemporary love stories.—Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Zadoorian (The Leisure Seeker) serves up a wry, unflinching tale of an underachieving couple in midlife crisis mode as the recession grips the industrial Midwest. Joe and Ana live in Ferndale, Mich., a mile outside Detroit, where they've been shacked up (but not married) for 15 years. Joe's a freelance journalist just getting by, while Ana, once an aspiring documentary filmmaker, works in advertising and has become the breadwinner. Despite their cramped living quarters, they live in separate spheres. While Ana befriends and fantasizes over a coworker, Joe stays out late drinking and, while home, develops a heavy porn habit. After Ana catches Joe at the screen, she expresses doubts about their relationship and ongoing living situation. Things don't get any easier at work. Ana questions how far she's willing to stray from her progressive values to serve a Christian client, and Joe is reduced to a "telemarketing Willie Loman," selling ads for a newspaper. Zadoorian's comedy of contemporary manners resonates by virtue of its introspective characters and depictions of the small moments in life that, taken together, have great significance. Piquantly titled chapters ("Out Come the Freaks") provide additional comic snap. Zadoorian's subtle, timely story hits the mark. (May)