Review: The story of our baby-boomer lives.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 27, 2013
These days, there is a form of resigned, dignified panic beating in the breasts of so-called `baby boomers'. We were the product of the nuclear age, the youths that listened to misquoted politicians talking about the `white heat of technology', the beneficiaries of sexual freedoms devoured hungrily and the generation that matured into a world of endless employment opportunities, grown tired and disillusioned as our optimism and idealism came to nothing. We have turned, instead, to the pursuit of creative retirement and feather-bedding our old age.Robert, the hero of this excellent and satisfying novel, has lived the dream better than most. His privileged and interesting childhood, followed by wise life choices and hard work, result in him holding a powerful position at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where he lives with his pretty and talented wife, Kay, who, at 40, is twenty years his junior. Each day his chauffeur ferries him to work while his wife enthusiastically develops her art gallery.So far, life is good.But behind the impression they convey, all is not perfect. He wanted a child, she didn't. They both love art, but at opposite ends of the spectrum - he traditional, she unashamedly modern. He paints his canvasses for relaxation while she deals in art for business reasons. Robert's retirement, which is the point at which the book opens, irritates her - he finds himself with nothing to do while she is rushed off her feet and would appreciate his involvement in her world. What perhaps Robert and Kay do not appreciate is, that with age, comes a growing fatigue and reduced capacity for involvement.But the mind does not age.Robert dabbles in the idea of seriously taking up his art again, encouraged by his ageless and slightly potty nonagenarian mother living in the Paris of his childhood. He also undertakes some consultancy work for the UN, partly as a result of pressure from his wife. Furthermore, he tries to recreate the passion and intimacy their marriage, revisiting their honeymoon hotel and dropping in on the house they bought as a holiday home in Italy some years before.But, above all, he thinks and questions both himself and his wife. Shock revelations and chance encounters derail Robert, haunted by the recurring leitmotif of `too late' - it's now too late for the baby boomers.  He leaves his home and takes up with a friend from his youth. She is a photographer. What better than recreating the post-war optimism and joy of Doisneau combined with his own painting?But their idea, to capture people travelling on the Metro on film and canvas, is doomed from the outset. Such an audacious project, even by well-known artists, would be a risky undertaking and, although she has a reputation as a photo-journalist, he is unknown as a painter. She sells a little, he nothing at all. As the project dies, so does their ill-conceived love affair and, sadly, his mother. He retreats to his Italian bolt-hole where an unexpected visitor inspires him to paint and perhaps begin to think outside the box of his beautifully executed but cement-booted landscapes.Kay's return on the scene and her deep love for her confused and unhappy husband result in a return to purpose for them both. New and unexpected success is followed by tragedy and he withdraws again to what he knows best, a rewarding UN contract out in the field in Bangladesh and the safety blanket of his landscapes. But, with the UN contract, his confidence returns. He can still `hack it'. Kay at last appreciates her husband as a man and as an artist and, in turn, Robert sees his future with Kay positively.Claude Nougat has perfectly captured the dilemma of the aging baby-boomer. She writes from a position of great authority - she knows her characters and subjects inside out. She tells a good story beautifully and has, to an extent, amply filled a rich vein of storytelling that so many of us would like to emulate.We baby-boomers may have had it all, it may indeed now be `too late' for us, but we are not finished yet.Don't write us off until we are gone.Roderick Craig Low. Author of `England 2026. After the Discord'.