This Was Not the Plan

November 16, 2015
Alger’s (The Darlings) new novel of love, loss, and parenthood is readable and relatable. Charlie Goldwyn, the widowed father of Caleb, his idiosyncratic five-year-old, works hellish hours in hopes of making partner at his powerful Manhattan law firm. Instead, he is fired after a drunken rant turns him into an unwitting YouTube sensation. When his twin sister, Zadie—who took over Caleb’s care after Charlie’s wife died in a plane crash—takes a vacation, he becomes his son’s primary caregiver. Still grief-stricken and hyper-focused on winning back his job, he is overwhelmed by fatherhood. His struggles to become the father that his free-spirited wife wanted him to be are by turns funny and moving, as are his musings about his job. That said, there are some issues: Charlie’s mother’s part in Charlie’s estrangement from his father strikes a sour, unresolved note. And after Zadie involves their father in her wedding plans, the story becomes overly sentimental. The story’s sweetness isn’t always to its detriment, though; Charlie’s growing relationship with Caleb is uplifting and memorable. Agent: Pilar Queen, McCormick Literary.

Narrator George Newbern perfectly portrays the somber voice of Charlie Goldwyn, a recently widowed, overworked attorney and father to 5-year-old Caleb. Expressing emotions never came easily to Charlie before he met Mira. The yoga instructor who taught Charlie to live in the moment was everything to him. Can Caleb and Charlie navigate life successfully after the sudden loss of Mira in a plane crash? Newbern transitions easily between Charlie's voice and that of his twin sister, Zadie, who has taken on the maternal role in her brother and nephew's life. Newbern gives depth to each voice and delivers realistic pitches for the female characters and Caleb's peers. As narrator, Newbern brings real emotion to both the heartbreaking and hilarious moments of Alger's story. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine