INSIGNIFICANT OTHERS

A breezily funny, affecting tale by the author of the novel-turned-film The Object of My Affection, about the entanglements of a gay Bostonian facing a midlife crisis.

Richard Rossi is a “psychologist by degree” working in the human resources department of a software company, Connectrix, who could use some counseling of his own. His partner Conrad, with whom he has lived for eight years in a Beacon Hill condo, has been secretly seeing someone else during his out-of-town trips as a consultant (he tells rich people what art work to hang in their homes). Richard's occasional lover, Ben, an architect with whom he sublets a studio apartment and thinks of as his real “husband,” is spending more time with his wife and kids. At work, Richard is responsible for keeping a young hire from leaving Connectrix and for coaching a hostile supervisor involved in a discrimination suit. He also must soothe a resentful sister in Buffalo and provide support for a married friend with heart disease. Failing in his attempt to escape reality through daily visits to the health club, Richard is forced to confront his ideas about fidelity, obligation and fulfillment. An amiably rendered gay man's guide to contemporary life, this is a rare novel that details its characters' imperfections without imparting judgment. McCauley invests them with a romantic outlook that no amount of disappointment can diminish.

A novel with pithy observations, lightness of touch and generosity of spirit.