Grin-inducing farce takes on battle of the sexes
Character-wise, the mirror-oriented heterosexual middle-aged WASP male is a risky tactic. Self-possessed, self-satisfied and just plain selfish, he can come across as an affront on the page, a loathsome figure to consider or spend time with for 300 pages. While he might prove attractive — or at least fascinating — in some novels (consider the irascible whining protagonist of Don Gillmor’s Mount Pleasant), he also categorically repels in others (look no further than misanthropic Raymond Gunt in Douglas Coupland’s Worst. Person. Ever.). With Mad Men’s Don Draper as an evident ancestor, gregarious Toronto ad agency proprietor Julius Roebuck isn’t exclusively a divisive figure. He’s a divided one as well.
The focus of Scott Gardiner’s lightweight third novel maintains a polished surface that spells success: businesses seek his unique, award-winning campaigns; his wife, an esteemed interior decorator, appears contented; his kids are smart and well-adjusted. A Range Rover and photo shoot-ready home complete the picture.
Pragmatic Julius also pencils in the occasional hotel fling and a stable ongoing affair with Lily, a poet and freelance graphic designer. All that’s missing is the novel he’s been meaning to write.
With a new hire, an ad campaign for condoms and an irresistible proposal from Yasmin, his wife’s single but reproduction-crazed business partner, Julius’s schedule circa 2008-10 becomes a whole lot more complicated. Throw in a vasectomy, a rash of pregnancies, a tangle of ulterior motives, elaborately-choreographed excuses, mini-treatises on evolutionary biology — and a set piece involving syrup of ipecac? A speedy, intermittently grininducing farce centred on the age-old battle of the sexes.
Farce isn’t the kindest or most compassionate of genres and Fire in the Firefly stays true to that rule. No one in it deserves Brownie badges (unless there’s a new one for juggling lies). And that’s the idea. Saints acting with kindness and generosity is beside the point. Brett Josef Grubisic lives in Vancouver and teaches at UBC. His third novel, From Up River, and For One Night Only, will be published in the spring.