Alternatives to Sex

by Stephen McCauley

Book Overview

Pleasure and guilt make mischievous bedfellows in Stephen McCauley's witty send-up of modern love, sex, and real estate. Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743224736
• ISBN13: 9780743224734
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Just wonderful!

The only bad part of this novel is that it ends. Had read all Mr. McCauley's other novels, and adored them. This one seems more mature and developed than the other books. I'm a sucker for characters in ruts that evolve and "grow-up" (as a character in the book, Marty, would say) and this novel did not disappoint. It's true that there weren't many suprises, but who needs those, in real life we figure out what others should do long before ever they do. The narrative is somehow a page-turner, yet moves slowly enough to flesh out so many realistic supporting characters as well. It was thrilling and heartwarming to witness William's transformation to adulthood without having morality crammed down our throats. I look forward to Mr. McCauley's next book.

Alternatives to TV!

I loved this book! I DID remember the characters names and found myself hoping William would find love and chill out from his internet sex obsession. Even though I am a straight 40something year old woman, I related to Edward and found him endearing in his own way. I felt all the characters were well written whether they were likeable or not. As unseemly as the internet sex parts may be to some people, I found it enlightning to read how rampant and easy it is to hook up on line (especially for gay men). It is never too graphic to read. Clearly McCauley knows something about the subject or did his homework. This is the first Stephen McCauley novel I have read and based on the reviews, I have several more to look forward to. I was anxious to get back to reading Alternatives to Sex when I had to put it down. Good writting, characters and story ... this guy has a sense of humor!

A Very Funny , Profound Novel

Stephen McCauley's latest is certainly well worth reading. He writes with a great deal of humor but with just as much insight as to why we as human animals do some of the things we do. The novel is set in Massachusetts a year after 9/11 when people are trying to be better, or they go shopping to feel better or they withdraw into themselves. William Collins is forty-something, a real estate agent working near Boston-- McCauley has either sold real estate or knows someone who has as his take on the industry seems to be right on target-- who decides that he must do something about his life, that he will become celibate -- with an occasional lapse-- and concentrate on his profession. William is a compulsive housecleaner; irons and vacuum cleaners are some of his favorite things. He meets most of his dates on the internet where his name is Everett and his age is not accurate. His best friend is Edward, a flight attendant stationed in Boston who has anxiety attacks when he flies because of the aftershocks of 9/11. William rents out an apartment to Kumiko, an artist who is more con-artist then anything else. She manipulates William into not paying her rent and even gets him to do her ironing, although he never learns how to iron pleated skirts. There are several other assorted characters-- Charlotte and Samuel (a happy couple?), Didier, a boyfriend whom he does not sleep with because of his new celibacy, William's mother in a retirement home, whose love object she has met only via the internet, et al. McCauley though his characters, usually William but not always, says both funny and sometimes profound things: William's idea of exercise is "making plans to go to the gym." "You can choose who you go to bed with, but you can't choose his decor." The only difference William believes between straight and gay men is that straight men "rarely buy their own clothes." He is convinced that manners went out with talk radio and that heterosexual men only use the word "fabulous" around gay men. God, Mozart and a seat cushion that doubles as a flotation device "give you a little lift, the passing illusion the universe isn't completely chaotic and that you just might be able to swim to shore." People who try to sell their homes without listing them with a real estate agent are the "same people who home-school their children, vacation in gigantic recreational vehicles, and do morris dancing." Finally William's discussion of the differences between religion and spirituality is worth the price of the book. He calls religion spirituality's "sturdier cousin," with rules, rewards and punishments and some kind of God. He associates spirituality, however, with eye pillows, green tea and unmelodic music." William opines that he operates on a "premise of muted pessimism" and doesn't expect great things of himself, a less than positive approach to living. On the other hand, he does some very decent things for several people, including Edward at the end of the novel, that lea

A delightfully entertaining novel.

I've been meaning to read Stephen McCauley (the author of "The Object of My Affections") for years. Happily, "Alternatives to Sex" has proven a great place to start. A social commentary and observational portrait of a forty-something gay man, this is the sort of novel once referred to as a comedy of manners. At forty-four William Collins has discovered that his well appointed life, though expertly decorated and certainly clean (he's an obsessive compulsive), is both sterile and empty. William seems emotionally adrift, looking for sex in all the wrong places when what he's obviously seeking is love and companionship. He resolves to give up anonymous sex and focus on his professional and spiritual lives. As a real estate agent William is a bust in a booming market. However, it is through his Boston real estate office that we meet most of the characters that populate McCauley's wonderfully inventive narrative. Most notably we meet Edward, a flight attendant prone to panic attacks since 9/11, who finds that unrequited love truly is a bore, and though he's got it pretty bad, he's ready to give up all hope that his friendship with William will ever blossom. So, though love may be just around the corner, our hero is just myopic enough that he has to walk around the block a dozen times before he stumbles upon it. It is to the author's credit that we as readers don't mind taking the walk with these characters, and hoping that William will open his eyes to the happiness right in front of him. "Alternatives to Sex" is most decidedly an entertainment, the kind of novel Mrs. Smiley (from "Cold Comfort Farm") might refer to as amusing and diverting, so good it has inspired me to look for other books by McCauley. I can't think of higher praise than that.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SEX

Are there any? Alternatives to sex that is!...I honestly don't think there are, but this novel, in a rather amusing and sometimes poignant way, explores what might pretend to be viable alternatives. In the post-9-11 era, there are possibilities, we are told, that might not have previously been substitutes for sex. Celibacy, marriage, marriage of convenience, career, ennui, infidelity, compulsive obsessions, cyber-"sex", religion, spirituality...all can pretend to be substitutes for the most basic of human drives. But each of these alleged alternatives fails to have the capacity to substitute; rather, they occupy the dark recesses of denial and longing. I found this novel engaging, entertaining, and as I said earlier, poignantly amusing. If one is a member of the Boomer Generation, or close enough to it, one will fully understand the stark humor Stephen McCauley brings to this work. This is a quick and rewarding read.