When we meet Andre he's a blank slate: a freshly minted 24-year-old
college grad, firm of butt and pec, on his first day of work at a
Japanese-owned, Manhattan-based investment bank. But young Andre
soon finds himself on both a corporate fast track and a sexual
roller coaster. Within days he's seriously boffing the sensuous
Nathan, his boss's boss, and has been seduced by the elegant Sybil,
Nathan's young wife. Before long he's halfheartedly sleeping
with the frumpy office secretary, Martha (eventually getting her
pregnant). Along the way he reconnects with levelheaded Madhu, the
Indian woman he dated and nearly married in college.
Welcome to Miniplanner, by first-time novelist Abha Dawesar,
a 26-year-old with an awesome feel for the juicy intricacies
of sex in all its permutations, and an impressively mature
understanding of how lust transmutes into love. In the end, there's
more going on here than a simple, thoroughly entertaining sex farce,
as Andre resorts to juggling his assignations in the eponymous
miniplanner. The comic surface of the story belies a sweet and savvy
underplot about growing up, assuming responsibility, and learning to
trust oneself.
Dawesar has crafted an intricate, often hilarious story with swift,
crisp prose and clean, short sentences which deliver steamy sex
scenes, tender family moments, and passages of reflective
introspection with equally engaging directness. It's an expressive,
impressive debut.
-- Richard Labonté
|
|
|
Recent Articles
Movies
