IN THE MIDDLE OF A LIFE is a damn good title for this story. Forty-two year-old Fred Landon is an unemployed salesman, divorced for a dozen years, who sees his daughter, now seventeen, only occasionally. He lives in a seedy Toronto apartment, is overweight and worries about his health. A child of the Depression, his great ambition was to write for TV and films, but no dice. For eleven years he worked for a greeting card company, first writing sappy verse, then selling. His heart was never in any of this, but now, downsized and using up his savings, he is beginning to feel a little desperate.

Here's a guy whose head is full of random lines of poetry and lyrics from old songs. He suffers from occasional tachycardia, probably high blood pressure and flatulence. Yeah, gas. All kinds of serious problems for Fred all come to roost at once. His ex-wife returns from New York, as does his daughter, in the company of a doper US draft dodger, who gets them both arrested. His aged father, a stroke victim in a distant nursing home, is causing waves for his estranged sister and guilt pangs for Fred. And yet Fred still worries too of more minor things - things that make you laugh out loud. He frets over allowing his "socks to ripen on his feet" and farting in bed. Things his ex-wife Vera of course could not abide. But things begin to look up, he finds a job with a second-rate real estate firm, with a boss who, incidentally, also suffers from gas. During his job interview, the guy lets 'em rip. "Before he sat down, he broke wind, a fierce brassy emission." And a little later: "He leaned slightly sideways in his chair. Squeezing out a silenter, thought Landon. Well, I've done it myself in company."

Ya see what I mean? Here's poor overweight outa-work divorced and friendless Fred. And yet ya can't help but laugh! Fred's other overdue good fortune, besides the job offer, is a relationship he has recently begun with Margaret, the woman upstairs, a forty-ish Polish immigrant school teacher, whose old shrewish mother has just (finally) died.

I felt such sympathy for poor Fred, but he has such a good heart, I figure things are gonna improve. There is an interesting and surprise twist toward the end which I'm not gonna reveal. Because this is a sweet, funny book about a guy you might not even notice on the street, but hey, Wright makes you realize that everybody has a story, that all lives matter. If I had to compare this book to anything else I'd read, it would probably be Frederick Busch's novel about another couple at mid-life, HARRY AND CATHERINE, a book I've read a few times now. Love Fred Busch's stuff. And I'm starting to feel the same way about Canadian writer Richard B. Wright. This is my third Wright novel. But it certainly will not be the last, because he's written quite a few. Your writing ROCKS, Richard. Highly recommended. ( )

The title pretty much says it all. Fred is middle-aged; looking for work; dealing with his 17 yr old daughter, ex-wife, new lady friend, sister, dying father, and the usual physical issues that come with middle age.

It's the story of an average guy living an average life. Nothing crazy (positive or negative) happen to him, but he still has the usual ups and downs. There is nothing heroic about Fred; he just lives the way most of us do, and that's the point. Normal life is normal life.

A nod to the author for seemless flashbacks and reminiscences that make the reading enjoyable. (But if you want to read this author, I recommend Clara Callan instead.) ( )

I love Richard Wright's writing. He just creates such detailed characters and is a keen observer of the ordinary. This book was of interest to me because the main character would be about the same age as my father was in 1973 and I'd have been just a few years older than the daughter. I couldn't help but think about my dad's life through the lens of Landon and relate to the daughter. ( )