The Ladies' Man [Paperback]

The Ladies' Man is set in Boston and tells the story of the three Dobbins sisters, Adele, Lois and Kathleen, all set in spinsterhood, and Nash Harvey, the man who dumped Adele on the night of their engagement party 30 years before. It seems Nash can't move forward in his life (relationship or otherwise) without first mending ways with Adele. So he leaves his girlfriend in California, flies to Boston (and of course, makes a date with Cynthia, his plane-mate), and shows up on Adele's doorstop out of the clear blue. Thing is, Adele is not willing to forgive him. Regardless, Nash's stay in Boston has an effect on her as well as her sisters and brother, Richard, in different and funny ways. And of course, Nash's "Ladies' Man" ways are evident from the very first page.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a simple story, but very interesting and fun to see what would happen next. I recommend The Ladies' Man as a quick, light read and one that will no doubt entertain readers 100 percent. Will be reading more by Elinor, guaranteed!

Adelle fundraises for non commercial TV, Lois (the middle one) works for the Employment Office and Kathleen owns a lingerie boutique whose doorman, Lorenz, she flirts with and finally dates in the flurry of Harvey's return. (He arrives at midnight, flirts with all three in turn, and moves Kathleen to break a casserole over his head.) The doorman's building also contains Cynthia John, a financial consultant Harvey seduces on the plane East, who throws a music recital to show him off (a masterful scene of music snobs volte facing into success worshipping applause at Harvey's one ubiquitous coffee ad refrain). The initial charm and inexplicability of Harvey's relentless boyish seduction is gradually stripped away by Lipman's gaze - he emptied Dina's bank account on the way from LA but calls her to forward the residual payment cheques which are his only income. The scene of Nash Harvey (his professionally reversed name) inspecting the dilapidated parental home he first left Boston to flee, reduced to staying there rent free if he is to stay at all, is quietly fierce, as is the scene of Adelle breaking down in the changing room of her sister's shop: "Dell, are you alright?" "No," she says softly. But these scenes are always harnessed to comedy, as Harvey's vengeful ex Cynthia walks into the store, as Adelle's remembered one sexual encounter was with a randy academic whose pedagogic urge leads him to view his member as a teaching aide. These scenes are ruefully funny, a bitter undercurrent to the frothy shake of Lipman's style, making her books a smooth but satisfying brew.

Lipman's gems in this book are the minor characters: Lorenz the doorman's traditional father who thinks Kathleen is too good to sleep around with and won't vacate the apartment, Adelle's shy station boss admirer Marty whose sexual harassment paranoia and self-doubts she deftly hits, the boyish deputy Sherrif brother Richard Dobbin, whose reflexive picking up on waitresses is a less exploitative counterpart to Harvey, part of Lipman's ongoing project shaking her head at men's odd ways. Her one failure is Byron Sprock, the passing playwright Dina conjugates with, whose glibness is too close to Harvey's with no grain of depth, perhaps why Dina wants to get her ladies' man returned. The exquisite handling of the plot's spinning plates never let you feel much will ever fall out of hand, but Lipman's acid eye won't let you think she's been too kind or glib while sending Harvey on his way. Stern in its judgements but kind to its readers and characters, it is a wise and easy book to read.