In her second novel, Greathead hilariously chronicles the poignantly mundane life of George, a man born with every advantage but unable to commit to a job or his girlfriend, Jenny. The narrative follows George from adolescence in the 1990s to his early 40s in 2020, creating a complex yet searingly funny portrait of Millennial masculinity.<\/p>\n
At a recent event at\u00a0Books Are Magic<\/a>\u00a0in Brooklyn Heights, Greathead, a Cobble Hill resident,\u00a0read from the novel and chatted with\u00a0Teddy Wayne<\/a>, her husband and also author. She read an\u00a0excerpt from the book, where George describes looking at an apartment in Brooklyn that Jenny wants to rent and buy chickens to keep in the backyard: \u201cGeorge looked around at the space, which was not very large, and imagined it covered in feathers and bird droppings. He suspected Jenny\u2019s fantasy involved a wicker basket full of eggs, herself in some kind of prairie dress and a pair of wooden clogs. She nurtured childish longings by making George the adversary.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This combination of a sardonic tone and psychological insight into the dynamics of an intimate relationship is the hallmark of Greathead\u2019s prose.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a really good memory for clever things that other people say, and I will often write it down. I don’t consider myself an innately clever one-liner kind of person, but I keep good company,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n When asked if she set out to write a character that was representative of Millennial men, Greathead explained, \u201cI always start off with an individual. I never think in broad terms, but as I continued writing, I realized many men can be very smart in many ways and still lack a kind of fundamental self-awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n The intersection of George\u2019s relative intelligence and his grandiosity fuels many of the funniest moments in the book. For instance, George feels he must write a book about two guys following\u00a0Jack Kerouac\u2019s journey from\u00a0On the Road<\/em>\u00a0(because\u00a0On the Road\u00a0<\/em>hasn\u2019t received enough attention already).<\/p>\n![\"books-are-magic-event\"](\"https:\/\/www.vmcdn.ca\/f\/files\/bkreader\/images\/events\/books-are-magic-event.jpg;w=960\")
![\"the-book-of-george\"](\"https:\/\/www.vmcdn.ca\/f\/files\/bkreader\/images\/events\/the-book-of-george.jpg;w=960\")