Gen Xers find love and work in ’90s Toronto

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This article was published 15/06/2024 (847 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Alex Pugsley, author of The Education of Aubrey McKee, were to choose an alternate title for his most recent novel, “An Ode to Gen X” could be an option.

The characters are intense, with their creativity, angst, rebellion and ability to take life far too seriously (as one is apt to do in their 20s, navigating first loves and first jobs in 1990s Toronto).

The Education of Aubrey McKee is a followup to Pugsley’s debut novel about the same character. Pugsley has been nominated for Canadian Comedy Awards, Gemini Awards, Hot Doc Awards, National Magazine Awards and is a winner of the Writers’ Trust Journey Prize. He also wrote and directed the film Dirty Singles. The third book about Aubrey McKee, Silver Lake, is forthcoming.

For those who read Pugsley’s first novel about Aubrey’s adventures as an anxious teenager in Halifax, seeing him become an uncertain adult is a natural trajectory. Twenty-something Aubrey has moved to Toronto to invent his grown-up persona and establish himself as a writer.

At a fortuitous party, Aubrey meets a poet, Gudrun Peel. The soirée includes a mix of creative types and big city pretention. “In Toronto, the idea of a friend is sort of tactical. It’s about how you can use someone to advance your career,” says Aubrey. “But I’m not sure it’s healthy. And I’m not sure I know how to do it.”

If The Education of Aubrey McKee was a film, envision Ethan Hawke as Aubrey and Winona Ryder as Gudrun. (This reviewer certainly did.) There are so many ‘90s references that come to mind, from pop culture to mixtapes, that an authentic sense of the decade is capably captured.

The timeless and inexplicable joy of attraction is authentically shared. When Aubrey meets Gudrun, he says: “Pushing a swoop of jet-black hair behind her ear, she glanced at me and smiled, as if she just happened to be smiling and I just happened to be standing there, but, as she walked out of view, I had the private sensation I alone was discovering her beauty.”

Pugsley’s ability to capture a variety of male archetypes is insightful and entertaining. Regarding Sebastian Hickey, a friend of Aubrey’s who sports a fake British accent: “It allowed him to sound both exquisitely sincere and preposterously affected.”

About Gudrun’s ex-boyfriend: “Dalton Hickey colonized all materials. There was no one he hadn’t read, nothing he didn’t know, nowhere he hadn’t traveled. His intelligence disturbed me. He used words you didn’t recognize.”

Although there’s a colourful collection of friends and foes, The Education of Aubrey McKee focuses on the love story between Aubrey and Gudrun. Their relationship is tumultuous, with Gudrun’s character being more richly explored than Aubrey’s. One learns more about Aubrey through his reactions to others.

But there are glimpses of introspection when Aubrey speaks directly to the reader with occasionally candid confessions. Upon moving in with Gudrun, he says: “Even though I was given to insecurity, jealousy, and anxiety — as well as the vexation that issued from my inability to express such feelings — I wanted to be understood as emotionally intact.”

There’s a lot to unpack, as Aubrey and Gudrun navigate a long-term relationship with major highs and lows — including trauma, love, lust, trust, and success — in their world of authors, poets, journalists and playwrights. The characters are on an uncertain path, and it’s quite a thrill ride.

Deborah Bowers is a marketing and communications professional who totally relates to being a conflicted creative type in the ‘90s.