'The Understudy' by David Nicholls - 4*

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

“A romantic comedy is a story where one person’s unhappy, and then they meet and fall in love with another unhappy person, but they can’t get together and happy because of the obstacles – “

Stephen C. McQueen, no relation, is one unhappy squirrel. He’s an actor who is still waiting for his big break on the London scene after too many years of knocking at the door of success. Divorced, estranged from his seven year old daughter Sophie, living in a tiny cupboard in an unsalubrious part of the city, Stephen makes ends meet by dressing in animal costume for a children’s show and as an understudy for one of the most successful new revues on Shaftesbury Avenue:

Far away in the distance, he heard the pop of a fork piercing the film seal on the top of a ready-meal.

Nora Harper, an American expat in London, is bored out of her skin and starting to question her hasty marriage to a dashing young actor who swept her of her tired feet in the New York restaurant where she was waitressing until her stalled musical career took off. Nora is unhappy and starting to drink heavily in her luxury industrial loft where she is practically a prisoner of her successful husband.

The Twelfth Sexiest Man in the World is the main obstacle. Josh Harper has traded in his smouldering good looks for a BAFTA acting prize, tons of money and a budding career as an action hero in American blockbuster movies. He is currently the talk of the town in a play about Lord Byron and he is mostly happy because the person he loves best in the world is himself.

This is David Nicholls’ second published novel, and it didn’t enjoy the same success as his other stories and scripts. I think the main turn off was the wet towel personality of the main character, the not Steve McQueen guy. And I saw many reader comments that the comedy was missing, that the novel was to downbeat.
I feel like I have read a different book, because I thought the narration was often laugh out loud funny, the screwball moments well handled and the budding romance between two wounded people believable. But then I’m one movie geek who likes Brit rom-coms better than the Hollywood recent offers.
I think I liked most of all the commentary on the difficulties faced by an aspiring actor with more enthusiasm than talent and the insights into what goes on behind the scenes in a major production.
I got confirmation of why this is important in the novel when I tried to read some more about the start of David Nicholls’ career. Like Stephen, he tried for years to make it as an actor in London, only to finally throw in the towel and strike in a different direction:
He struggled as an actor and has said "I’d committed myself to a profession for which I lacked not just talent and charisma, but the most basic of skills. Moving, standing still – things like that.”
I think the author put more than a little of his own bitter experiences in his fictional lead character.

I think the success of next books written by Nicholls warrant a reconsideration of this mostly ignored early effort.

[Joy D]

Thanks for calling this book to my attention. I enjoy David Nicholls' books. I'm adding it!

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Yes, I am going back myself to his earlier books, after enjoying everything he wrote after One Day

Starter for Ten is my next target, but I'm saving it for a rainy day because I understand it is very funny.