The second novel from Ken Capobianco, author of Call Me Anorexic: The Ballad of a Thin Man, is both a soulful love story and a comically irreverent exploration of relationships in a rapidly changing America, where people are more concerned with amassing social media followers and likes than establishing genuine connections and finding love.
After breaking up with his girlfriend in 2016, 35-year-old Nicky is content to live a quiet life as an arthouse movie theater manager in a small beach town in Orange County, California. He enjoys his nights out with his artistic friends: Allie, a struggling singer-songwriter; her guitarist, Rabbit, a sexually adventurous recovering alcoholic; and Dom, a failed actor whose provocative theater piece turns him into an internet pariah.
Nicky coasts along in his unassuming job at the theater showing many of the art films he loves and patiently acquiesces to his friends' awkward attempts to set him up with women. His low-pressure, sun-soaked Southern California beach life is suddenly turned upside down during one summer evening while he's out with Allie. To his dismay, Nicky is finally forced to confront past traumas he thought were in the rearview mirror.
All certainty turns into doubt. Day becomes night. White blurs into gray. In order to move forward, Nicky must make hard choices about his future even if they jeopardize all of his cherished friendships.
Deftly balancing two separate storylines (one told exclusively through dialogue) and filled with twists, A Field Guide to Temporary Madness and Extraordinarily Ordinary Sex is the unholiest of human comedies and a daring examination of love, sex, relationships, and the meaning of art in a country on the cusp of profound transformation. It presents a gallery of colorful characters stumbling through an uneasy era obsessed with dating apps, Instagram influencers, and unhinged internet outrage.
From its audaciously profane opening chapter until its unforgettable final page, the novel is a funny yet poignant look at the choices we make to survive difficult times and the unpredictable and crazy things men and women do in their quest for gratifying sex and fulfilling love.
