BOOKS: The Understudy, David Nicholls (2005)

When you reach your early thirties and the highlight of your acting career has been the starring role in a children's DVD about Sammy the Squirrel, you might begin to wonder if it's time for a career change. That's where Stephen C. McQueen -- no relation -- finds himself as The Understudy opens.

Stephen is actually working at the moment, which is an improvement; unfortunately, it's as an understudy to an actor who seems unlikely ever to miss a performance. That would be Josh Harper, Hollywood movie star (and according to one magazine, the Twelfth Sexiest Man in the World) who's doing London theater in order to be taken more seriously. Josh seems to have it all, especially in comparison to Stephen; not only is Stephen's acting career stalling out, but his marriage has failed, his daughter seems to be slipping away as she grows up, and he's living in a depressing tiny apartment.

There is a bright moment for Stephen when he's invited to Josh's birthday party. Well, not "invited" so much as "asked to work as a waiter," but Stephen does meet a beautiful woman with whom he falls almost immediately in love. Nora is charming, witty, everything Stephen could hope for. She's also Josh's wife.

This is a style of comic novel that has never really caught on with American authors; the Brits call it "lad lit," and it's essentially chick lit with male protagonists. When it's done well, as it is here or in the early Nick Hornby novels, it's light and breezy and lots of fun to read. The challenge is that we tend to frown on men who are too aware of their own emotional flaws and desires (which is probably why lad lit is almost always in the third person, where chick lit is often in the first; if we must focus on male emotion, at least let it by done by a somewhat distant omniscient narrator), but if the men are too unaware, they come off as cold, unfeeling bastards.

Nicholls gets the balance right here; Stephen is insecure without being a complete wimp, and I found myself rooting for him, even at his worst and most foolish moments. The characters are, to be sure, perpetually witty in the way that only romantic comedy characters can be, and like much lad/chick lit, the plot relies a bit heavily on contrived situations and far-fetched coincidence. But the whole thing is funny and very sweet, and Nicholls manages to keep the story from collapsing completely into sitcom.