A bit part

Now he was a stranger, the old guy with the dog, relegated to a bit part, his only lines throwaways.

Steward O'Nan, Henry, Himself

Stewart O'Nan has written a series of fine novels about the Maxwells, an upper-middle-class Pittsburgh family. Emily got her turn in Emily, Alone. The author steps back in time to focus on her husband Henry in Henry, Himself (2019).

The novel covers the year in which Henry turns 75, and the end of the book suggests it could be his last birthday. Henry played his part well throughout his life. As a successful engineer, he provided comfortably for his family — a son and a daughter — and did everything a good husband and father is expected to do. Now well into retirement, he finds himself the man described in the line quoted above — an old guy relegated to a bit part with throwaway lines. (As an old man myself, I can tell you that this is how many old men feel.)

Henry's purpose in life now seems mostly just to do whatever Emily tells him to do. Oh, he plays golf with three friends and watches the Pirates play on television every night, but even these pleasures have become dull routines. Often he lives in memories, especially his sweet secret memory of a society girl named Sloan he knew before Emily.

O'Nan writes in brief chapters, some just a paragraph or two long. Each is something of a short story, each advancing the story yet each a story in itself. We find Henry tending his yard, interacting with grandchildren, running errands, paying bills and doing other ordinary things. This may sound a bit dull, and perhaps it would be to many readers who are not also old guys now relegated to bit parts.