Fat, Forty, and Fired

March 12, 2007
Recounting the life he led during the nine months he was not working, Marsh opens with his operation for "anal fistula"; the six-week convalescence enables him to reflect on his next step after learning that the firm he runs in Sydney, Australia, is being closed. Breaking open the family nest egg, he decides to escape the pattern of "enforced inertia that kept men in a tie and at the office" and to take a year off. Marsh's epiphanies during his hiatus include the realization that he is fat, but more poignantly, that he is an alcoholic. While the light tone of the book sometimes undermines his struggle with alcohol, Marsh clearly takes it seriously. The strength of the memoir lies in the intimate and often humorous moments he shares as he reconnects with his wife and four children. Whether it is his preschool-aged daughter announcing to her gymnastics teacher, "We don't touch Daddy's willy because it's dirty," or the more somber account of his wife talking him out of having a glass of wine, Marsh is at his best in vignettes. The narrative slows in the middle, during a European trip with his wife, but when Marsh finally re-enters the workforce, he does so recognizing that instead of obsessing about the time he misses with his family, he should enjoy the moments he has.