The Unborn Spouse Situation by Matt Rauscher

Title: The Unborn Spouse Situation
Author: Matt Rauscher
Publisher: Lethe Press
Length:: Novel/310 pages ebook
Buy the book: Giovanni’s Room / ebook

Blurb:

Augie Schoenberg is twenty-two, an aspiring filmmaker at a school without a film school, and desperately single. He’s just moved into the Harley Hutt, the wildest party house on campus, and has fallen hard for his roommate Victor Radhakrishna, a campus political activist who is, for Augie, ”a practical demi-god: a crusader for justice in skateboarding shoes.” The problem is, Augie is the only gay one in the house – or so he thinks. Set in a raucous Midwestern college town, The Unborn Spouse Situation is a darkly comic novel of sex, betrayal, and cultural clashes. Augie’s search for love takes him from the cornfields of Illinois, to the gay beach and underground clubs of Chicago, and finally to the ecstasy-fueled nightlife of London, where Victor’s secret threatens to keep the two apart forever. Whether in this relationship, or in two other doomed romances – one with a deeply closeted Mexican-American frat boy, and the other with a Cuban pro baseball player – Augie finds that the deceptively free Midwestern environment holds more obstacles to these relationships than even he had thought. Written in a raucous, voyeuristic style, Augie’s story won’t disappoint readers looking for a wild, sexy ride.

Review:

Despite the odd title, Unborn Spouse Situation is actually a darkly funny, raunchy look at the coming of age of a young man both typical and wholly unique. On the one hand Augie is a classic study of youth – self absorbed, arrogant, willful, destructive, and somewhat pathetic – but he also embodies a host of characteristics to offset this – humor, intelligence, romance, and hope. This dichotomy tugs at the reader, keeping you fully engaged and invested in the outcome. You can’t put this book down with its solid writing, quick pace, and true skill at showing a year in the life of a college senior.

The narrative begins with Augie moving into the biggest party house on campus. He’s been waiting for this opportunity and finally thinks this year, and this move, will change his life. Interestingly they do but in ways Augie never imagined and takes quite a long time to appreciate. With the first person style, Augie spends the year making mistake after mistake, lamenting his troubles and convinced he’s never going to find a boyfriend. He’s perpetually negative, often graceless, creating more problems and turmoil with his self absorbed antics and near alcoholic tendencies. He’s a very difficult character to like and empathize with and thus is the real skill of the author. Rauscher has created a wonderfully authentic, unlikable character in Augie, yet for all of this you still want him to get his act together and change. You just can’t stop watching to see what will happen.

The cast included is diverse and multicultural, a truly excellent addition. The narrative has an honest feel where race, religion, background, and sexuality are not defining characteristics as much as parts of the whole. Each of these are clearly supporting roles to the main star in Augie, but they each feel important and purposeful. None of the secondary characters feel superfluous or lost. Although totally self absorbed and convinced all actions have an impact on him, Augie manages to shows his intelligence and sensitivity in recognizing these people for who they are and their strengths and flaws. Of course, he often uses that knowledge or ignores it based on his whims and immaturity but he never fails to identify with these characters, no matter how briefly.

Augie’s actions and those of people around him are shown in very raw, raunchy language. Augie is obsessed with sex and his roommates’ groins so there is no end to lengthy descriptions of size, color, weight, heft, circumcision. While these eye catching, punchy details never fail to wake up the reader, they also become heavy and repetitive after a while. Especially as Augie moves from being sex obsessed to craving more of an intimate connection, his repeated commentary starts to feel forced and empty. Similarly, Augie’s final revelations to himself feel temporary and short lived. Yet this ending of hope and happiness, however brief, hallmarks the incredible year Augie has had, finally allowing himself to really recognize the change and experiences.

The youthfulness inherent in the story will cause reader enjoyment to vary. Due to the pretty unlikable narrator, one that in fact totally annoyed and frustrated me personally, readers may or may not love this story. There’s no denying the author’s skill though in crafting such an intricate character and those who can sympathize and relate to a very young, untested youth full of his own importance and equal despair that life is over already will enjoy this raunchy, darkly humorous tale. The few stumbles are hardly road blocks to this offering and no matter what, you’ll be sucked in and have to know what happens. I can easily recommend this if you’re looking for something different and a nostalgic trip to the mistakes of youth, but it does end well. Or as well as anything can for young Augie.