An Available Man

By: Hilma Wolitzer

Narrated by: Fred Sullivan

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Edward Schuyler - a modest and bookish 62-year-old science teacher - is widowed, he finds himself ambushed by female attention. There are plenty of unattached women around, but a healthy, handsome, available man is a rare and desirable creature. Edward receives phone calls from widows seeking love, or at least lunch, while well-meaning friends try to set him up at dinner parties. 

The problem is that Edward doesn’t feel available. He’s still mourning his beloved wife, Bee, and prefers solitude and the familiar routine of work, gardening, and bird-watching. But then his stepchildren surprise him by placing a personal ad in The New York Review of Books on his behalf. 

Soon the letters flood in, and Edward is torn between his loyalty to Bee’s memory and his growing longing for connection. Gradually, reluctantly, he begins dating (“dating after death”, as one correspondent puts it), and his encounters are variously startling, comical, and sad. Just when Edward thinks he has the game figured out, a chance meeting proves that love always arrives when it’s least expected.

©2012 Hilma Wolitzer. All rights reserved. (P)2012 AudioGo

Critic Reviews

“Wolitzer [writes] of the pain of losing a partner and its aftermath...with remarkable insight, grace, and humor. A warm, keenly incisive view of life’s vicissitudes by a writer too seldom heard from.” (Booklist)

“Families are Wolitzer’s turf, and she’s an observant and often humorous chronicler of domesticity and the stuff that comes with it: illness, loss, boredom, crankiness, and, on good days, love.” (Publishers Weekly)

“I absolutely loved An Available Man (and not, I swear, because I’m partial to widowers). For a start, Edward Schuyler is someone I desperately wish I could invite to my next dinner party (and not, I swear, because there are half a dozen women I’d like him to meet). This is a book to savor page by page, filled with astute detail, both comic and mournful, about what it’s like to be middle-aged and lonely yet not give up on the search for love.” (Julia Glass, author of The Widower’s Tale and the National Book Award-winning Three Junes)

Lovely book, easy read, wonderful characters

It's February and this book fit right into my wanting it to be summer. It is a warm, thoughtful story about Edward who is just a great guy and all of his angst with losing his wife and finding a new life. The story just transported me to where it resided and I didn't want it to end.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Beautifully written

This is a lovely book. So beautifully written about a poignant time of the characters' lives that while I was listening, I was quoting lines and parts to friends. It was so great to listen to that I was sorry when the book came to an end. I have listened to other books by Hilma Wolitzer and didn't feel as strongly positive about them. This one is truly special. I also want to say that though it has sad parts, it isn't a sad book.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A Poignant Story of Love, Loss, and Moving Forward

This is a touching tale about the unexpected loss of true love when Edward's beloved wife dies from cancer and he has to find a way, daily, to keep going without her. His step-children and friends repeatedly try to fix him up with available women, but he needs time to grieve and recover. I have read a couple of other books by Hilma Wolitzer and have liked them all. She writes beautifully and creates characters that are fully developed human beings. The book is not maudlin at all and I laughed as many times as I had a lump develop in my throat. The narrator was just right for this book, sensitively rendering Edward's and the other characters.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Very satisfying

If you could sum up An Available Man in three words, what would they be?

Coming to terms

Any additional comments?

I imagine you have to be a certain age and at a certain point in your life to enjoy this, but if you have ever been in a deep, long-lasting relationship you will find yourself relating to Edward and his joys and missteps.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Pleasant Listen

This is a nice, easy going enjoyable book. Enjoyable but not memorable
Perfect for the gym!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

a nice read

Not gripping or a page turner but i don't think it was meant to be, but it was a pleasant read even though the story line was a sad one. I enjoyed the main character and his processing of his grief, living it, walking through it and coming out on the other side. Living through your grief can never be an easy thing but this character did so in a healthy a way as possible and in the end finding love and a life again.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A Fortunate Man

If you could sum up An Available Man in three words, what would they be?

tender, touching, memorable

What other book might you compare An Available Man to and why?

If I Stay, I think that's the title. Both books deal with life and loss and the opportunities to live again. This book about a widower in his 60s, the other about a teenage girl in a serious accident.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scenes on Martha's Vineyard as he starts to live again, weighs possibilities, and pitfalls.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

He's such a nice man that I don't think Hollywood would be the right market for this. A stage play.

Any additional comments?

Wonderful narrator. This book would seem more like

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Romantic Midlife Novel

This is the type of book that I wouldn't mind getting for free from the library. I liked several of the characters such as the great grandmother (his mother-in-law) and the lead character, Edward, and his diseased wife, Gladys.

I feel that this book will have strong appeal to many widows and widowers, however, not my favorite book. I consider it an "ok" novel.

'An Available Man'... Starring: The Dialogue!

Early in her book,Hilma Wolitzer presents her reader with the ultimate plot complication… a death. And from there, a tried and true plot line which is as old as cuneiform--how do the survivors cope afterwards. And, in some hands holding the quill, it can be a very tiresome and predictable contrivance.

However, she is a master at dialogue and therefore character development. I always feel that I'd read a 1,000 page novel about someone going to pick up bread at the grocery store if the author makes me care about the protagonist and their journey. Wolitzer definitely does that.

Also, Fred Sullivan is an excellent narrator.

You'll enjoy this book, I promise.

Enjoyed!

Was unfamiliar with this author, but I do like her writing style. It was a cute book about a widowed man getting back out there in the dating world. Feel that this would appeal to middle age or older readers as he is early 60's. It was easy listening and light hearted.