A sprawling family saga centred around A.N. (Andrew) Dyer, an ''American institution, whose first novel, Ampersand, was a coming-of-age story 'right up there' with Salinger's Catcher in the Rye'', & Sons is in every way a literary treat, exploring those often unexplored spaces that both separate and integrate fathers with sons, and boys and men with their male friends.
It does so not just with referrals to the novel's here and now, but to literature and history in general.
Since this reviewer only has daughters, it's a whole new world as 79-year-old Andrew stumbles through a eulogy to his ''oldest and dearest friend'', Charles Topping, before returning to his New York apartment and trying to finish what will be his final novel (of a dozen or more). Meanwhile, Andrew's 50ish sons Richard, a Californian-based former alcoholic and drug addict, and Jamie, a globetrotting documentary-maker, drop in on the family's mansion to see how Dad, long divorced from their mother, is coping with old age; not too well, as it happens. Also living at home is the reason for the divorce, 17-year-old Andy, who bears a remarkable resemblance to his father.
& Sons lives and breathes New York and privilege, as seen from the perspective of a family configured by fame, wealth and history. Richard's mission is to persuade his dad to give him the rights to film Ampersand, Jamie's to enjoy a break after taping his former wife's final days on the planet and posting it on the internet.
Meanwhile, young Andy's dreams lie in a different direction: he's hoping that partying and drugs will help him lay the beautiful 24-year-old literary agent Jeanie Spokes.
Smart yet profound, witty yet serious, and with two emotionally explosive mid-story revelations, I only have one minor criticism: for the narrator is not an unknown voice or third person but Philip Topping, the son of the late Charles. How Philip knows what went on behind obviously closed doors didn't detract from my enjoyment of & Sons, but did require some mental gymnastics. Otherwise, thumbs up all round.
- Ian Williams is a Dunedin writer and composer.
