When you have a cast of 35 narrators—everything from passing
neighbors to frogs, macaws, and emergency brakes—a novel could
easily be too scattered, or even worse, too cutesy. Yet first-time
novelist Rudolph Delson’s Maynard & Jennica manages to
curtail the cute and moves straight to distinctly charming. Quite a
feat for such a tricky setup. Obviously it helps when the characters
are as entertaining as Maynard and Jennica.
Delson writes lovingly of two New Yorkers: Maynard, a misanthropic
musician who makes short films about dog poop and people’s poor fashion
sense; and Jennica, a driven romantic who moves to New York from
California to be “illustrious.” What follows is a darting relationship
spanning from the summer of 2000 to post-9/11, as Maynard and Jennica
meet, date, break up, and more. But not only do you hear both people’s
sides of the story: You hear from Maynard’s drunken mother, Jennica’s
wisecracking parents, Maynard’s German green card wife, and lest we
forget, the occasional bird and cricket. Because Maynard and Jennica’s
stories about their relationship are so self-referentially skewed, the
inclusion of other narrators makes for a stronger, funnier, and
heartfelt story.
Delson’s novel can be easily devoured in an afternoon: The
characters are all delightful and distinctive, which makes for a breezy
but moving read. And the rare times when Maynard & Jennica feels stilted is when Delson tries a little too hard to evoke the
spirit of Vonnegut. But these moments are fleeting. Delson quickly
kicks back into gear with his strong personal voice, and the novel
retains its original sense of purpose: to make you fall in love with
New York City and two of its bumbling denizens.
Maynard & Jennica is the sort of novel that screams to be
made into a film. Apparently Hollywood thinks so too, as producer Scott
Rudin (The Royal Tenenbaums, I Heart Huckabees) has
already optioned the rights to the book. The film adaptation could
easily be botched (think rom-com with the likes of Jennifer Aniston as
Jennica and Vince Vaughn as the flippant Maynard). Don’t wait for the
film—read this little gem of a book. ‘Cause who could argue with
being charmed?