The
Indepdendent Gay Writer is pleased to welcome back
writer Andrew Barriger, author of Finding Faith, Finding Peace, and Finding Hopewith his review of Matt Raucher's The Unborn Spouse Situation
Visit Andy's website to find out more about him and his work. But don't trust his bio.
The
Unborn Spouse Situationby Matt Rauscher
(Lulu Press, July 2005, $21.95 Trade Paper)
ISBN 1411629205
With the introspection of The Catcher in the Rye, the vivid imagery of A Separate Peace, and the sharp, black and white honesty of post-adolescent adulthood, Matt Rauscher’s debut novel quickly and powerfully immerses his readers in the world of one August “Augie” Schoenberg, a young man described in his own words as, “twenty-two, an aspiring filmmaker at a college without a film school, and desperately single.” He faces the real world on the horizon with both excitement and trepidation, alternately longing for the new experiences life after college will bring, but fearing the life of loneliness and isolation he has imagined for himself.
So begins the tale of The Unborn Spouse Situation. When first we meet Augie, his college years are drawing to a close. He has moved into the Harley Hutt, a house that serves as party central to the campus, and finds he has five new roommates who are, unlike Augie, all straight. The housemates are all aware of his sexual orientation, and, at least on the surface, are okay with it. As the weeks progress, however, tensions rise as the boys who would be men struggle with their inner demons.
With a stunningly quick-witted and sincere first-person narrative, Rauscher shows his reader the world through Augie’s eyes. We feel his joy as he meets his new roommate, Victor, with a little-known ritual of swapping underwear, his sadness as he realizes he may have feelings for a man who identifies as straight, his euphoria as glimmers of light appear at the edges of the closet door, and his despair as he learns Victor’s unspoken secret. Like Catcher’s Holden Caulfield, Augie stubbornly, relentlessly struggles to make sense of a world that defies his logic, and seems determined to trump his every turn.
A virtual voyeur in the college senior’s world, the reader is quickly indoctrinated into a setting of wild parties, thought provoking classes, and hormone fueled passions. Augie takes his reader’s hand, showing every facet of his life with stark, passionate honesty coupled with economic, elegant description. With his novel, Rauscher has proven himself a master of first-person writing, taking his reader on a journey that changes form with Augie’s perception, from simple conversational narrative, to stream of consciousness mind-blowing exhilaration. The transitional effect is used particularly effectively as Augie has a much-anticipated intimate encounter. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rauscher eschews the tired procedural “tab-A, slot-B” descriptions of carnal mechanics for a poetic intermingling of experiences and sensations, allowing the reader to virtually “be” Augie.
The course of The Unborn Spouse Situation takes the reader through Augie’s final, turbulent year as he creates and then faces down his personal demons, grudgingly meeting adversity head-on with style, spirit, and (some) grace. Augie Schoenberg is not a person to be pushed down, and though gay themes are front and center to the novel’s plot, it is the human aspects of overcoming hardship and heartache that shine through.
First person narratives can often be cumbersome, but Matt Rauscher’s strength and skill as a novelist make the reading a joy rather than a burden. In no time, Augie feels like an old, slightly neurotic friend, and his story reads as a long, winding letter. Though Augie’s story may have come to a close, I look forward to much more from Matt Rauscher.
—Andrew Barriger
Author of Finding Faith, and others
Author of Finding Faith, and others