The holidays provide an expanse of empty hours, perfect for those who like to combine sloth and intellectual stimulation. Bookworms are content to spend hours sprawled in a variety of uncomfortable positions for the sake of the stories in front of them. Sometimes the Christmas stack yields literary delights, other times you stir from four prostrate hours and berate yourself for not enjoying the crisp air, sunny skies and sparkling snow. (I live in Santa Fe where these things can all happen at once.) "Maynard and Jennica" by Rudolph Delson is the sort of novel that not only keeps you horizontal without complaint but induces visible grins and audible chortles, earning you skeptical glares from family members who try to occupy the same space.
Delson's first novel is set in New York, and like most recent novels about the city, 9/11 does play a part. But it is fundamentally a comedy and a preposterous but convincing love story.
The defiance of all things cliché is one of Maynard's occupations. He is also a musician and filmmaker. In his opinion, people who enjoy life are absurd. He is not a pessimist, and certainly not a realist, but to him chipper idealism is unfathomable, and completely inane. With sweet irony, Delson constructs a quintessential, improbable cliché New York encounter on the subway between Maynard and Jennica and their love story begins.
Maynard is odd in every way. His clothes make him look like a character in a 19th century period piece and he has been hired on more than one occasion as a tree assassin.
Jennica is more typical, though she has longed from childhood for a more "illustrious" existence and her name is a combination of Jennifer and Jessica. She is an Ivy-educated English major, attempting to find satisfaction in the city. Her quirks are more familiar than Maynard's, prompting the conclusion that fairly normal women may find their best counterparts in strange, endearing gentlemen.
They complement each other deliciously. The wit of the author and the hilarity of the character's distinct qualities reach a superb harmony in a scene where Maynard and Jennica argue over what to name her Maine coon cat. She continues to insist on authors and musicians, the pretension of which he finds unbearable. The argument dissolves into bed and is followed by Maynard's marvelous evaluation of sex.
The construction of Delson's novel is novel in itself. It reads like an interview in a newspaper article. This method results in a very distinct voice for each of the vast members of the cast of characters. There is a hilarious sampling of personalities?no fewer than 35. Maynard's grandmother is far enough of her rocker to secretly buy her grandson's apartment and rent it to him, she is also a fierce Scrabble player and is irate when she discovers that Jennica has invented half of the words she played to beat her. His ex-wife Anna routinely shares cabs only to skip out on the bill and even the subway brake has something interesting to say for itself.
Delson's ear for language is incredibly sharp. His characters are verbose and he presents the readers with the most imaginative logic that underscores the oddity and unpredictability of human behavior.
New Yorkers and lovers may have a particular affinity for this novel, but the wit and insight are more than enough to attract the masses.