Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Published by Random House, 2019
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Fleishman Is in Trouble follows a recently divorced, middle-aged man whose newfound sense of sexual freedom is brought to an abrupt halt when his ex-wife Rachel disappears and he must assume sole responsibility for their children. A social satire in many respects, Brodesser-Akner uses this setup to dissect the nature of marriage, gender roles, class disillusionment, and the pressure felt (particularly by women) to live the seemingly ‘perfect’ life.
The author is very successful in establishing complex and frustrating characters, with none of them being particularly easy to root for. Fleishman’s pompous and often selfish behaviour makes him instantly unlikable, but we soon see how much of this stems from a sense of insecurity and abandonment, as well as how eager he is to be a good father. Rachel too is painted as a cold, distant mother, but the book really hits its stride in the final quarter when we begin to unravel the true reasons behind her apparent disconnect, and eventual disappearance. This is where the strength of the novel really lies, with Brodesser-Akner exploring the idea that how we view a situation is entirely dependent on perspective; with society’s judgement almost always falling in favour of men.
What I found really interesting to consider are the gender stereotypes Brodesser-Akner employs; which ones she chooses to indulge, and which she chooses to subvert. Do we judge Rachel more harshly for being an absent parent because she is a woman? Do we feel more sympathetic towards Fleishman’s single parenthood, and more blasé towards his sexual promiscuities, simply because he is a man?
There’s also some interesting critique of the unique brand of delusional, self-inflicted struggles that can affect the middle and upper classes. Both Fleishman and Rachel have successful, high paying careers, affording them a comfortable existence and many luxuries they take for granted – like nannies and expensive summer camps for their children. As such, any financial stresses they experience are born purely out of their desire to relentlessly climb even higher on the social ladder, making them seem entirely unaware of their own privilege.
On the other hand, the novel’s weak point was its narrative framing, which I found needlessly convoluted. Though ostensibly focussing on Fleishman for much of the novel, in reality, this is Rachel’s story. While Brodesser-Akner could have said something interesting here about women having their voices silenced by the weight of patriarchy – how society reframes female suffering as male inconvenience – Fleishman himself is not our narrator either. Instead, every intimate detail of their lives is relayed to us via Fleishman’s female college friend, Libby. Her wholly unbelievable omniscience added nothing thematically that couldn’t have been explored as effectively from Fleishman’s and Rachel’s own perspectives. It’s arguable she was trying to represent the complete breakdown of communication between the couple by involving a third-party, or to comment on a lack of privacy when people are navigating difficult times, but it’s also possible that’s just me reaching to try and make sense of a stylistic choice that didn’t provide enough of a pay-off to justify how much it slowed down the narrative.
This was altogether surprisingly readable. I must confess to only picking it up because it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and I fully expected to dislike it. I was pleasantly surprised therefore by the depth and nuance it had to offer within its social commentary. If only the narrative structure had been less contrived, allowing for fewer distractions and a more incisive look at the psychology of Fleishman and Rachel. The bones of a great novel are in here somewhere. As it is, I thought it was fine.
You can pick up a copy of Fleishman Is in Trouble from Book Depository by clicking here.
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Hmmm I’m still not keen! Glad that you found it more readable than you were expecting, though.
I don’t blame you; I can still see it being quite polarising. My low expectations going in most likely helped!
I’ve heard very mixed reviews about this, so it’s good to read a really well-balanced exploration – thanks!
I had too, which I suspect helped to make this a pleasant surprise. Silver linings, I suppose!
I’ve heard such mixed things about this it’s great to read your balanced viewpoint. It will probably remain low on my list of books from the Women’s Prize to get to but I do still hope to read it before the shortlist announcement is made.
Thanks! This was a great example of low expectations resulting in a very pleasant surprise, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you when you get to it! 😊
I am so conflicted about this now, great review! I might have to pull your power move and actually read this one soon!
Thank you! I’m very intrigued to see how the rest of the group get on with this one 👀
Great review! I am dreading this one slightly less now. It’s too bad the narrative is framed so oddly, but I am glad to hear there should be plenty of interesting commentary to look forward to at least. Hurrah for pleasant surprises! And hopefully the longlist will keep looking up from here.
Thank you! I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the rest of the group make of this one 👀
Great review! I’m glad the book ended up being better than you had expected. Your review is the most positive one I’ve seen so far haha. Now I’m curious to see where I will fall on the spectrum of opinions!
Thank you! Going in with low expectations definitely helped, so I hope you’re pleasantly surprised as well.
So was this the one, you expected to be the low-point from the longlist? In that case, it bodes well for the rest of the list. As you say, it probably helps to have low expectations to begin with.
This was definitely the one that appealed to me the least based on reading through the longlist’s blurbs. Like you say, hopefully that bodes well!
Great review! I’ve read several really positive and some quite negative reviews of this one. I think I’m still intrigued enough that I’ll eventually have to pick it up and try it myself!
Thank you! I’d only really seen negative reviews before going in, so I was pleased to find plenty of merit. I’d be very intrigued to see your thoughts on it.
Omg of course her name is Rachel 😂 I’m glad this wasn’t as disastrous as expected but ugh I still am not looking forward to it…
Set your expectations as LOW as possible. Which seems to be the best mantra for the longlist as a whole 😂
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