Hannah 038; the City

Unlike the regular girlie paperback, the an-swer to 8220;What happens next?8221; is hard to come by here. Character is the plot in The Man of My Dreams, Hannah8217;s growth and self-realisation over the span of a decade the matrix for the ap-parently easy read. The pegs for the story are the defining moments of American youth: a parental divorce, a new college, making friends, finding boyfriends, losing her virginity, zeroing in on the perfect man. And, eventually, coming to terms with her own self.

For the most part, Sittenfeld is a writer in complete command. From the 14-year-old Ha-nnah, foisted on an aunt after her bad-temper-ed father throws out his wife and daughters, to the 25-year-old Hannah, moving cities to be close to the man she thinks she will marry, the protagonist is pitch-perfect. It8217;s impossible not to recognise bits of ourselves in Hannah and her circumstances: The emphasis on appeara-nces, the comfort factor of familiarity, the repe-ated desire to be anywhere but in the present.

For that is Hannah8217;s holy grail, as it probably is for the reader: A future stage of life when she8217;ll know who she is, and nothing else8212;not celebrities, not conventions, not friend or fam-ily perceptions8212;will matter. Invited to her first party in college, she swings between yet an-other early night and an evening with strangers she already knows she8217;ll hate.

Much as you laugh ruefully with these situa-tions, at no stage do you want to be Hannah: She8217;s not particularly likeable. She8217;s reactive, disinterested in almost everything from sport to wildlife, suspicious of devotion, accepting of infidelity. Yes, she8217;s also intelligent, indepen- dent when she finally walks out on her impos-sible dad and tells him to lump his tuition sup-port, you want to stand up and cheer and marches resolutely to the beat of her own drummer. You just wish, well, the journey was a little less inconsequential.

To some extent, Sittenfeld must take responsibility for this conclusion. The last chap-ter of the emotionally wise, cleanly written book is a cop-out, a lengthy letter from Hannah to her therapist that sums up about two years of the final stage of 8220;growth8221;, as if the author her-self has tired of her protagonist and her search. That said, The Man of My Dreams will proba-bly have things to say to the young reader weary of the Sophie Kinsellas and Candace Bushnells. Growing up isn8217;t such a bad thing after all.