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Fleishman Is in Trouble

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Fleishman Is in Trouble is a 2019 novel by American author Taffy Brodesser-Akner. The debut novel was published on June 18, 2019, by Random House.[1] It tells the story of a Manhattan couple undergoing a bitter divorce. Brodesser-Akner also wrote the screenplay for a television miniseries based on the novel, which was released on Hulu in 2022.

Fleishman Is in Trouble
First edition cover
AuthorTaffy Brodesser-Akner
LanguageEnglish
PublishedJune 18, 2019
PublisherRandom House
Publication placeUnited States
Media type
Pages384
ISBN978-0-5255-1087-1

Writing

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Brodesser-Akner was working as a staff writer at The New York Times during the writing of the novel. Its narrative style mirrors that of her celebrity profiles, by having the titular character's troubles presented through the eyes and ears of an intermediary,[2] who has been seen as a stand-in for the author herself.[3] She has stated that having the male as the center of the plot was a conscious decision so as to look at male sexuality from an outside perspective.[4] The book has drawn comparisons to Philip Roth and John Updike, albeit from a feminist perspective.[5] Brodesser-Akner has acknowledged the influence of those authors on her writing.[6]

Plot

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Toby, a 41-year-old hepatologist, is undergoing a bitter divorce from his wife Rachel, a successful talent agent in New York. One day, she drops off their children, 11-year-old Hannah and 9-year-old Solly, at Toby's house while he is still sleeping and takes off. She does not respond to texts or calls from him for the following weeks. The story, narrated by Toby's college friend Libby (a former writer for a men's magazine), follows their lives over this period and the events that led to the breakdown of their 14-year-marriage, as well as reflections of Libby's own life.

Themes

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Fleishman Is in Trouble deals with the themes of gender roles, marriage and divorce, online dating, midlife crises, and class anxiety. The novel mocks the affluent Manhattan professional class and its pretensions while embracing their anxieties, especially those relating to marriage and gender.[7] An underlying theme of the book is the relegation of women to the background in a male-centric society.[8] At one point in the book, the narrator says that "the only way to get someone to listen to a woman [is] to tell her story through a man", which is what the book in itself does.[5] The novel also deals with the nature of marriage and relationships, in particular the strain that arises in marriages in which the wife is the primary breadwinner.[9] It has been seen as a larger commentary on marriage in modern America and the way in which it appears to strip people of their identities and force them into routines.[10] Brodesser-Akner also parodies the app-based dating culture, from grammatically poor sexts to the names of dating apps (such as Hr, Choose, Forage and Reach).[11] In particular, the novel focuses on the generation that got married before the advent of dating apps and who, upon divorcing, had to adjust to new dating practices.[12]

Television series

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Main article: Fleishman Is in Trouble (miniseries)

In March 2021, FX ordered a limited series of the novel.[13] Brodesser-Akner adapted her novel for the small screen. It premiered on Hulu on November 22, 2022, starring Jesse Eisenberg as the title character, Claire Danes as his ex-wife, and Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody as Fleishman's best friends.[14][15]

Reception

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The book received mostly positive reviews from critics. The Guardian called it "an honest, powerful, human story with no apologies",[16] while Rolling Stone praised its "unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of the way we live now".[3] The Washington Post opined that the novel "slices through the demeaning rules of the patriarchy just as effectively as she slays the fatuous optimism of that 'girl-power' propaganda fed to modern girls".[17]

The BBC praised its "enjoyable satirical touch", but found it "laborious to read and ultimately not very interesting".[18] The Harvard Crimson panned its writing as "lazy" and further said that the book "rarely [shows] more than the various characters' selfish desires to run away from the lives they've willingly signed up for". Similarly, Kay Hymowitz also criticized the characterization in the book, commenting: "What's telling about our current cultural moment is that Rachel's shallow, snobbish status obsessions didn't attract any attention from the book's many reviewers; it's as if those obsessions are so obviously acceptable that they don't notice their corrupting effect. Instead, they endorsed the novel's supposed depiction of 'the impossible pressures that talented women endure'."[7]

Honors and awards

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The novel was selected for the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Fleishman Is in Trouble By TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER". Random House.
  2. ^ Fallon, Claire (June 16, 2019). "'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Investigates The Gender Sympathy Gap". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan (June 13, 2019). "Taffy Brodesser-Akner Investigates Suburban Malaise in Her Excellent Debut Novel 'Fleishman Is In Trouble'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  4. ^ Shapiro, Lila (June 17, 2019). "Taffy Brodesser-Akner Wrote a Book About the Opposite Gender. So Did Tom Perrotta". Vulture.
  5. ^ a b Zax, Talya (June 19, 2019). "Like Philip Roth, But Feminist: Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Debut Novel". The Forward. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  6. ^ Snapes, Laura (June 15, 2019). "Taffy Brodesser-Akner: 'People really love how messy the truth is'". The Guardian. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Hymowitz, Kay (September 4, 2019). "Are We Overlooking the Real Trouble in Fleishman Is in Trouble?". Institute for Family Studies. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  8. ^ Rosenbilt, Rachel. "Now that we've all read 'Fleishman Is in Trouble,' let's talk about the ending". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  9. ^ Grady, Constance; Nelson, Liby; Chittal, Nisha; Williams, Tim Ryan; Reid, Will (July 10, 2019). "Decoding the book of the summer, Fleishman Is in Trouble". Vox. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  10. ^ Luca, Cassandra. "'Fleishman Is in Trouble' Is Trouble Itself". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  11. ^ Luckhurst, Phoebe (August 19, 2019). "Why Fleishman Is In Trouble is the must read book of summer". Evening Standard.
  12. ^ Brockes, Emma (June 18, 2019). "Profiling the profiler: an interview with Taffy Brodesser-Akner". The Guardian.
  13. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 11, 2021). "'Fleishman Is In Trouble': FX Orders Limited Series Based On Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Debut NY Times Bestseller". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  14. ^ Porter, Rick (January 28, 2022). "Adam Brody Joins FX's Fleishman Is in Trouble". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. ^ Cordero, Rosy (September 23, 2022). "FX's 'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Sets Hulu Premiere Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  16. ^ Guest, Katy (June 29, 2019). "Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner review – smart, funny story of love and sex". The Guardian. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  17. ^ Charles, Ron. "'Fleishman Is in Trouble' — and so is modern marriage". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  18. ^ Gompertz, Will (July 27, 2019). "Fleishman Is In Trouble: Will Gompertz reviews Taffy Brodesser-Akner's debut novel". BBC News. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  19. ^ Flood, Alison (March 3, 2020). "Women's prize for fiction lines up 'heavy hitters' on 2020 longlist". The Guardian.
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