Dani and Georgia have been friends since elementary school, when Dani protected Georgia from bullying even before they understood that he was gay. But just shy of finishing high school, their tight friendship is ruptured by Dani’s first relationship. When Georgia finds a partner of his own, they struggle to love and support one another— especially as their personal lives increasingly take place in the context of American political life of the mid-1980s.
Written by Monica Elizabeth Bauer, THE WORST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES takes aim at a rough period of American history: the threat of nuclear obliteration was still real, and the AIDS crisis was only beginning to ramp up. Most appreciably, it emphasizes the significance of naming. The novel focuses not on the body count of the AIDS crisis but on the battle for political recognition—to get just one politician to mention it in public remarks. The text hits some typical beats (including love, death, and mourning), but its primary focus is the movement of public opinion. It makes a compelling argument, most notably through its setting. No matter how much some people want to believe it, living in Nebraska does not insulate them from national interests, nor does it mean they have no LGBTQ+ people in their lives. The story brings these realities to the foreground, especially in moments where small-town boy Georgia first manages to find gay community in the “big city” of Lincoln.
For all its heavy subject matter, THE WORST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES is overwhelmingly funny. The text has a taste for a sharp turn of phrase, like when Dani’s insufferable husband Vladimir struggles to keep up with her thinking, looking “like a puppy struggling with object permanence.” As the political plot ramps up and new characters enter the fold, they create some particularly funny opportunities for snappish repartee. It’s hard not to laugh as a politician, molding Vladimir into a TV-ready candidate, suggests he should get a dog to complete the all-American political look: “What color is your wife’s hair?” “Strawberry blonde. Does that matter?” “Well, she would definitely clash with a golden retriever.” Moments like these are funny in their own right, but they’re also a necessity for balancing out the graver thematic material.
For all its successes, THE WORST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES could still use a bit of touching up. There are some textual issues, like missing close quotes around multiple paragraphs of dialogue. Structural changes, however, would do more to strengthen the novel. It’s not a requirement that a story take a reader by surprise, but this one is conspicuously predictable: by the time Dani meets Vladimir and Georgia meets his partner Jack, the basic shapes of their stories are obvious. In part, this is because the characters are fairly thin; one-note characters (whether that one note is sweet and caring, like Jack, or absolutely insufferable, like Vladimir) offer few opportunities for developing plot. There are some last-minute surprises, but they feel like non sequiturs and don’t ultimately enrich or complicate anybody. Nonetheless, THE WORST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES is heartfelt, focused, and enduringly funny.
Written by Monica Elizabeth Bauer, THE WORST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES’ heartfelt themes and comedic gems hit home.
~ Dan Accardi for IndieReader