Mike Gayle Turning Thirty

Turning Thirty

Mike Gayle

Downtown, Nov 2005, $13.00, 352 pp.

ISBN: 0743477650

As he closed in on the Big 3-0, computer expert Matt Beckford feels pretty good about his future, after the past somewhat tumultuous decade. His symbols that he is making it, are his wine rack with expensive wine, and his girlfriend Elaine. However, as the countdown to maturity continues, Matt suffers several setbacks, starting with an amiable split with Elaine, and ending with his forced exile from New York to return to his hometown of Birmingham, England, to live under his parents' roof while he prepares for a move to Australia.

As the countdown continues, Matt meets friends from his school days, which make him ponder the two key teenage questions of life: "What am I going to do with my life?" and "Will I ever get a girlfriend?" He soon moves in with an occasional former lover, Ginny Pascoe, who lets him use her spare room. To his shock he is falling in love with his hostess, even while Elaine tries to reheat their transatlantic relationship.

Though the latter half of this fine contemporary character study seems less insightful and amusing than Matt's earlier splashdown, fans will enjoy this hunk-lit tale of ageing. Matt is a terrific lead character, as he informs with asides to the audience, that all his teen doubts have returned even though he inches towards thirty, that his last year or two were a false facade, and wonders when maturity will actually come and stay. Fans will appreciate TURNING THIRTY as Matt begins to realize that from the day you are perceived you grow old; he hopes in his case a little more gracefully.

Harriet Klausner