Books in Brief: The Advertising Man

The Advertising Man, by Jack Dillon (Harper 316 pp., $6.95).

This novel has twelve perfect pages which describe a funny, painful, devastating suburban dinner party that turns into a nightmare. The rest of the book, within the limits Dillon has set for himself, is almost as good. He takes all the clichés—Madison Avenue, suburban marriage rites, cocktail-party angst, the loneliness of the long-distance commuter—and makes them believable. It works because Dillon is a master of the kind of dialogue associated with the school Edmund Wilson used to refer to as The Boys in the Back Room. Understatement. Wisecracks. An undertone of bitterness, but with a tough-guys-don’t-cry avoidance of the maudlin. There are touches of O’Hara, a smidgin of Hemingway, and a bit of James M. Cain, but Dillon has it all under control. Jim Bower, the central character, has only one thing going for him: He is a great copywriter. Tn that sense, at least, he resembles those Hemingway characters who find a kind of salvation in doing ordinary things well. I think Bower, Julian English, and Jake Barnes would enjoy having a few drinks together.

WF

About the Author

William F. Gavin

Featured Tags

Manage following

Fiction

Literature

The Advertising Man, by Jack Dillon (Harper 316 pp., $6.95).

This novel has twelve perfect pages which describe a funny, painful, devastating suburban dinner party that turns into a nightmare. The rest of the book, within the limits Dillon has set for himself, is almost as good. He takes all the clichés—Madison Avenue, suburban marriage rites, cocktail-party angst, the loneliness of the long-distance commuter—and makes them believable. It works because Dillon is a master of the kind of dialogue associated with the school Edmund Wilson used to refer to as The Boys in the Back Room. Understatement. Wisecracks. An undertone of bitterness, but with a tough-guys-don’t-cry avoidance of the maudlin. There are touches of O’Hara, a smidgin of Hemingway, and a bit of James M. Cain, but Dillon has it all under control. Jim Bower, the central character, has only one thing going for him: He is a great copywriter. Tn that sense, at least, he resembles those Hemingway characters who find a kind of salvation in doing ordinary things well. I think Bower, Julian English, and Jake Barnes would enjoy having a few drinks together.