Infidelity for First-Time Fathers - Hardcover

Barrowcliffe, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312291469 ISBN 13: 9780312291464

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

Synopsis

The party invitations that used to read "Bring Bottles and First Aid kit. 8pm till police raid" now say "Ben is one. Help us celebrate. Please leave quietly before afternoon nap." It seems that life is moving on but Dag is not quite ready to move with it. When his fiancée becomes pregnant, Dag panics, and begins an affair with the much younger Cat. But when Cat announces her pregnancy, Dag is faced with a terrifying dilemma that Barrowcliffe paints with his signature with and humor.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Barrowcliffe is a freelance editor and writer. He lives in London and Paris and is the author of Girlfriend 44, also available from St. Martin's Press.

From Publishers Weekly

Barrowcliffe's follow-up to Girlfriend 44 establishes him as the king of the cheeky, ironic romantic tagline, but his follow-through leaves much to be desired in this labored comedy about a 30-something British fellow who suddenly finds himself with two pregnant girlfriends. Stewart Dag Dagman is the whiny, wisecracking narrator who finds himself facing fatherhood when his long-time, live-in girlfriend, Andrea Ellis, informs him that she's in a family way; he gets a double dose of impending maturity when his younger lover, Cat Grey, delivers a similar pronouncement. Barrowcliffe tracks Dag's half-baked romantic angst through a series of scenes that feature endless sequences of hit-and-miss comic dialogue with Stewart's best friend Henderson, until the would-be father finally 'fesses up about his romantic duality to Grey. That touches off a series of breakup scenes followed by a sequence in which Grey pretends to be an online journalist to meet her counterpart, with Dagman using electronic surveillance equipment to find out how the two women really feel about him. Barrowcliffe jumps through some serious hoops to generate narrative tension, introducing a strange shooting incident as well as a terminal illness involving Andrea's father before he sprints off to the inevitable happy ending as the opportunistic Henderson pursues Grey while Dagman tries to restore his credibility with the two women. But most of the comedy never rises above the sitcom level, and the novel being built around an unlikable protagonist doesn't help matters. Barrowcliffe pens a few funny scenes here and there, but the occasional chuckle can't save this thinly plotted tale from an abundance of unfocused writing that fails to tickle the funny bone.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312291469
• ISBN 13: 9780312291464
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352