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Alternatives to Sex
- Author
- Stephen McCauley
- Narrator
- Stephen Bel Davies
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 27 June 2023
- Run Time
- 9 hours 23 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Pleasure and guilt make mischievous bedfellows in Stephen McCauley’s witty send-up of modern love, sex, and real estate.
Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There’s also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he’s certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment. “Happy couple,” he writes in his notes. “Maybe I can learn something from them.” What he ultimately discovers challenges his own assumptions about real estate, love, and desire—and what they learn from him might unravel a budding friendship, not to mention a very promising sale.
Full of crackling dialogue delivered by a stellar ensemble of players, Alternatives to Sex is a smart, hilarious chronicle of life in posttraumatic, morally ambiguous America—where the desire to do good is constantly being tripped up by the need to feel good. Right now.
Critics Review
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“McCauley delivers the promise of emotional progress for his flawed, charming protagonist in this clever take on the desire for love, sex, and real estate.”
Publishers Weekly
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“A light, diverting romp through eminently adult concerns: sex, real estate, fidelity, and housecleaning…A delightful story.”
San Francisco Chronicle
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Stephen McCauley
- Narrator
- Stephen Bel Davies
- Duration
- 9 hours 23 minutes
- Release Date
- 27 June 2023
- ISBN
- 9798212385633
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Fiction: general and literary
Synopsis
Pleasure and guilt make mischievous bedfellows in Stephen McCauley’s witty send-up of modern love, sex, and real estate.Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There’s also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he’s certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment. “Happy couple,” he writes in his notes. “Maybe I can learn something from them.” What he ultimately discovers challenges his own assumptions about real estate, love, and desire—and what they learn from him might unravel a budding friendship, not to mention a very promising sale.Full of crackling dialogue delivered by a stellar ensemble of players, Alternatives to Sex is a smart, hilarious chronicle of life in posttraumatic, morally ambiguous America—where the desire to do good is constantly being tripped up by the need to feel good. Right now.
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