In this luminous and tartly comic new novel, Mona Simpson, modern master
of the surreal family drama, trains her eye on a generation - and a
man - torn between idealism and self-absorption.
Tom Owens is a brilliant barefoot entrepreneur who has become rich and
famous by inventing a new kind of business - a man who is fond of
showering his largesse on friends and perfect strangers even as he
resists any deeper claims on his affection. Into Owens's charmed life
comes a ten-year-old girl whose claims he cannot ignore: Jane is his
daughter, born out of wedlock, raised in communes, and now dispatched
into his care by a mother who is no longer capable of providing it. As
this raggedy, preternaturally observant girl seeks a place within
Owens's circle, A Regular Guy depicts the miraculous chemistry that
transforms longing into belonging, an uneasy menage into a family, and
an arrogant boy-man into a father.
"Simpson understands families. She understands money. She understands
America. This is a poignant, funny book about loss and
disillusionment." - Chicago Tribune