Matthew Vaber's father shot himself in the head. It's
with this jarring bit of information that Galanes
begins his first novel, which examines grief, relationships
and self-reproach in a marvelously witty and winsome
voice. While living in New York, Matthew racks up
hefty phone bills dialing 555-PUMP, "New York's
only phone line for men who are serious about their
bodies." All it takes is a simple press of a
key to be automatically connected to someone new,
and Matthew leaves behind a trail of "victims
of the pressed pound key," determined to find
someone who is interested in him for something other
than sex. Meanwhile, he keeps his shrink apprised
of his fixation, knowing he's expected to somehow
connect his behavior to his father's death. After
Matthew is attacked during a Pump Line encounter
gone wrong, he travels to Darien, Conn., to visit
his uncle. Excited at the prospect of meeting a crop
of posh, suburban Pump Line users, he dials up from
his uncle's phone and eventually happens upon Henry,
who is also from New York and visiting Darien. Henry
is his "it" guy in every way, but is he
too perfect? Matthew begins to feel like a caged
animal even before their second date and naturally
turns to the Pump Line again, along with the Downtown
Club, a monument to anonymous casual sex. As he makes
discoveries about himself and his family, Matthew
comes to the unsettling conclusion that he might
be the story's most "unreliable witness," which
just might change his perception of his relationship
with Henry and his response to his father's death.
Galanes paints his characters with a light veneer
of despair and an oftentimes tongue-in-cheek sentimentality
in this appealingly hang-dog debut.
