Disgraced ad exec’s retreat from the spotlight satisfies

As Connecticut writer Courtney Maum’s entertaining new novel Alan Opts Out begins, the main male character, Alan Anderson, is planning his next pitch to win over a lucrative new client. Alan hopes to land a national contract with US Dairy by coming up with a campaign that will convince more people to get back to regularly drinking milk.

Alan’s plan is to have a typical and successful dairy farmer speak on behalf of the ad agency, Orris + Anderson, when they meet with US Dairy. His team has selected Tucker Brannigan from 50 candidates to be their RLDF (Real Life Dairy Farmer).

Alan goes to Greenacres, Tucker’s Wisconsin farm, to get to know him before their session in New York with their would-be client. Tucker shows Alan what a typical day is like but expresses concern about how nervous he’ll be. Alan tells him not to worry: “‘I’ll prompt you with questions, you just need to answer. And show up in overalls?’”

Alan is confident. He has had great success since he and Kenneth Orris formed O + A 17 years ago. He is happily married to Vivian and has two daughters, Bailey, 15, and Sunny, 12. He thinks he’ll win this latest client and then he’ll buy a swimming pool for Vivian.

Their home is in a posh Connecticut neighbourhood called Belleport. Vivian is optimistic about rising to a higher social level; she wants to be a member of Belleport’s exclusive Queen Anne club. Her aspirations and activities become a major part of this novel, so much so that the book could perhaps be called Vivian Opts In.

Author Maum, who has also written the novel Costalegre and the memoir The Year of the Horses, gives periodic glimpses into the current concerns of Belleport’s socialites in brief Facebook-like exchanges that appear between many of the chapters.

Just when the novel seems immersed in Vivian’s preoccupations — and a few of her daughters’ concerns — Alan’s pitch day arrives, taking place at US Dairy’s outpost near Regent Park in New York City. Alan meets up with his assistant Jacquelyn and his driver and they head for the airport to pick up Tucker. But Tucker does not appear. He is replaced by a fellow named Daniel Ellery, who is dressed like a cowboy.

Shocked at first, Alan thinks he can improvise in their session with the Dairy executives. Daniel’s talk goes astray, Alan attempts recovery, but Daniel shows a dislike for advertising and the pitch — and it’s only page 78.

The following Monday, when Alan hears that Publicis, O + A’s biggest competitor, has won the US Dairy account, he leaves the office early. Accepting defeat, he settles into a leave of absence, finding comfort outside his house, even liking his empty playhouse, where Vivian finds him, “the picture of low blood pressure and a steadily beating heart.”

Alan tells her that because they lost the Dairy account, they can’t afford a pool; Vivian insists she needs the pool, that Alan will win “the next big thing.” Over the next few days, with Alan still at home, Vivian feels that “this pensive, wistful, thoughtful version of Alan frightened (her) more than (a) sick version ever had.”

With Alan now at home all the time and the kids on summer break from school, Vivian finds it difficult to concentrate on competing for Queen Anne club membership. Alan’s business partner Kenneth can’t determine whether Alan is heading into retirement or taking a lengthy sabbatical. And Alan becomes a character whom neighbours can’t understand, especially now that he’s walking around barefoot.

At one point Maum relates that “Alan’s time-out wasn’t sustainable long-term; and it wasn’t fair. Vivian had molded her adulthood to fit Alan’s goals and needs; she’d stayed low and focused so he could always shine. And now, after a lifetime devoted to fueling Alan’s ambition, non-ambition was his thing? Doing nothing, buying nothing, going literally nowhere? He’d destroyed Vivian’s purpose.”

As Vivian takes command of herself, she thinks seriously about how she will handle Alan, but at the same time is determined to become a Queen.

In doing so, she seems to make this her book, even though author Courtney Maum offers up a surprise ending that will satisfy characters and readers alike.

Dave Williamson is the Winnipeg author of six novels, including Shandy, which tells about a retail advertising man who feels trapped in a mid-life crisis.