Are men underserved in books?

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Coming-of-age stories are normally associated with adolescence or young adulthood, when people have experiences that help them grow toward the person they are meant to be. Two recent novels, though—Amy Sohn’s "Motherland" and Jonathan Tropper’s "One Last Thing Before I Go" -- suggest that sometimes, a midlife crisis can also be a kind of coming-of-age story.

Sohn and Tropper have also played interesting roles in debates over gender and fiction -- and whether fiction on similar topics by male and female writers receives a different reception from critics. "Would I like to be taken at least as seriously as a Jonathan Tropper or a Nick Hornby? Absolutely," said Jennifer Weiner to the Huffington Post, in the interview that sparked "Franzenfreude."

Sohn, meanwhile, wrote one of the more talked-about essays of the summer -- "The 40 Year Reversion" on the Awl -- about a group of New York friends with marriages and kids who have slipped back into their 20-something ways of drinking, drugging and hooking up with other people.

Salon.com > Jonathan Tropper

Are men underserved in books?