With Exotic Dancers, Gerald Lynch returns to the suburb of Troutstream, but this time he has set his satirical pen aside. This new novel is a remarkably compassionate story of four lives coming together under difficult circumstances – circumstances which bring out the best in these uncommon common people.
Although Maggie Coyle finds herself divorced and recently down-sized from her position as a loans officer at the bank, she hasn't lost her aspirations for a better and fuller life: a real home, with a real family, something he fears lies just beyond his reach.
Joe Farlotte, out-of-work architect and just drinks away from a twelve-step program, finds himself a single father when his wife leaves him for a new partner and a new partnership in a law firm in Montreal. Holly, who has been playing goalie on Jonathan's hockey team, has been refused a try-out with the select team because she's a girl.
The lives of Maggie and Joe come together as do many of the lives of adults living in the suburbs: their children play on the same hockey team. When Holly realized that she won't be able to live out her dream, she succumbs to a serious depression and is hospitalized. Joe's drinking gets out of control. But, then, Maggie takes an interest in Holly and Joe decides to teach Jonathan the game of snooker.
Told elliptically in the voices of its characters, Exotic Dancers is a candid exploration of lives lived at the end of the 20th century.
“Exotic Dancers remains enormously readable, rich, and unsettling.” (Quill & Quire)
“Elsewhere, Lynch's eye for detail is unfailing. From the narrator's opening description of the student who always comes to his writing class carrying parts of his bicycle, 'seat, handlebars, wheel--or pilloried by the whole frame,' to the hilarious depiction of the sanctimonious Mrs. Mackery, a school teacher with an unfortunate proclivity for flatulence and an unwavering determination to diagnose her students with Attention Deficit Disorder and have them put on Ritalin, there is a compelling attention to personal and social minutiae that animates the interiorized world of psychologized monologues. The result is a cross between Alice Munro's microscopic attention to personal tensions and Roddy Doyle's vision of the energy and humour that is part of life on the wrong side of the trout stream.” (Books in Canada)
“Sunnier than his darkly humorous Troutstream (1995), more love story than satire, Exotic Dancers still has a satirical edge. The fiery demise of the local strip joint is worth the price of admission, and Lynch has lost none of his ability to mock.” (Ottawa Citizen)
“In Exotic Dancers, Lynch treats relationships seriously; his talent may lie in audacious satire of suburban life. We need more of this.” (Globe and Mail)
Although Maggie Coyle finds herself divorced and recently down-sized from her position as a loans officer at the bank, she hasn't lost her aspirations for a better and fuller life: a real home, with a real family, something he fears lies just beyond his reach.
Joe Farlotte, out-of-work architect and just drinks away from a twelve-step program, finds himself a single father when his wife leaves him for a new partner and a new partnership in a law firm in Montreal. Holly, who has been playing goalie on Jonathan's hockey team, has been refused a try-out with the select team because she's a girl.
The lives of Maggie and Joe come together as do many of the lives of adults living in the suburbs: their children play on the same hockey team. When Holly realized that she won't be able to live out her dream, she succumbs to a serious depression and is hospitalized. Joe's drinking gets out of control. But, then, Maggie takes an interest in Holly and Joe decides to teach Jonathan the game of snooker.
Told elliptically in the voices of its characters, Exotic Dancers is a candid exploration of lives lived at the end of the 20th century.
“Exotic Dancers remains enormously readable, rich, and unsettling.” (Quill & Quire)
“Elsewhere, Lynch's eye for detail is unfailing. From the narrator's opening description of the student who always comes to his writing class carrying parts of his bicycle, 'seat, handlebars, wheel--or pilloried by the whole frame,' to the hilarious depiction of the sanctimonious Mrs. Mackery, a school teacher with an unfortunate proclivity for flatulence and an unwavering determination to diagnose her students with Attention Deficit Disorder and have them put on Ritalin, there is a compelling attention to personal and social minutiae that animates the interiorized world of psychologized monologues. The result is a cross between Alice Munro's microscopic attention to personal tensions and Roddy Doyle's vision of the energy and humour that is part of life on the wrong side of the trout stream.” (Books in Canada)
“Sunnier than his darkly humorous Troutstream (1995), more love story than satire, Exotic Dancers still has a satirical edge. The fiery demise of the local strip joint is worth the price of admission, and Lynch has lost none of his ability to mock.” (Ottawa Citizen)
“In Exotic Dancers, Lynch treats relationships seriously; his talent may lie in audacious satire of suburban life. We need more of this.” (Globe and Mail)
Copyright: Gerald Lynch