Fallout

Summary (from the publisher): Sadie Jones, the award winning, bestselling author of The Uninvited Guests and The Outcast, explores the theater of love, the politics of theater, and the love of writing in Fallout - a deeply romantic story about a young playwright in 1970s London.

Leaving behind an emotionally disastrous childhood in a provincial northern town, budding playwright Luke Kanowski begins a new life in London that includes Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who will become his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's girlfriend. Talented and ambitious, the trio found a small theater company that enjoys unexpected early success. Then, one fateful evening, Luke meets Nina Jacobs, a dynamic and emotionally damaged actress he cannot forget, even after she drifts into a marriage with a manipulative theater producer.

As Luke becomes a highly sought after playwright, he stumbles in love, caught in two triangles where love requited and unrequited, friendship, and art will clash with terrible consequences for all involved.

Fallout is an elegantly crafted novel whose characters struggle to escape the various cataclysms of their respective pasts. Falling in love convinces us we are the pawns of the gods; Fallout brings us firmly into the psyche of romantic love-its sickness and its ecstasy.

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins. 

Immersed in the theater world of London in the 1970s, Fallout focuses on playwright Luke Kanowski, who finds himself immersed in two love triangles just as his career begins to take off. A chance encounter while asking for directions leads Luke to a great friendship with Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who becomes his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's future girlfriend. "'Luke Kanowski,' said Luke and he had the impression, oddly, that someone was taking a photograph of them shaking hands, like Kennedy and Hoover, a flashbulb moment of a meeting" (42). The threesome form a comfortable team, especially after Leigh moves in with Paul, making the three all roommates. 

It's clear early on that Leigh and Luke are drawn to each other, despite Leigh's decision to date Paul instead. Luke is comforted by Leigh's presence in his life, even if it's only there as his best friend's girl; "he realised with strange release that he felt happy that Leigh was there. It felt right to him that she should be there with them" (133). The three coexist quite happily until Nina comes onto the scene. Nina, an aspiring actress, is married to a seemingly bisexual man. Despite the instant connection Luke and Nina feel, Nina is trapped in the web of her marriage. While Luke is willing to sacrifice anything - his friendships, his career - for his love for Nina, she seems unwilling to do the same.

M0st of the characters seem to have had emotionally rocky childhoods. In particular, Luke's mother has been institutionalized since he was five. I wasn't sure what to make about this aspect of Luke's life. He seems to be a very devoted son, constantly visiting and writing his mother. Yet his past seems to make Luke feel as if he is damaged, and incapable of offering Leigh the love he feels she deserves. Yet otherwise this detail about Paul's life doesn't seem evident in any of his behaviors or choices.

This novel has numerous examples of lyrical writing; "sometimes he felt as though he were writing a postcard every day to everyone he had ever loved" (305). Additionally, I think it captures the complexity of human relationships and how choices happen not so much as a deliberate move, but rather the lack of one. However, the plot of this moved very slowly for me. I also am not a fan of thwarted love stories that only occurs because the two individuals hesitate and miss their chance. 

Stars: 3