Indecision

It's been ten years since his graduation from St. Jerome's prep school and as the unavoidable reunion draws near Dwight Wilmerding is feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the lack of progress he's made over the past decade, dissatisfied with life in general. Dwight moves noncommittally between the dual cubicle spaces of his transitional job and his transitional living situation, neither of which is destined to last beyond next month. And because his romantico-sexual situation is one of shared noncommitment, Dwight's life is composed more of a series of choices postponed than any actually made. In fact, Dwight Wilmerding is a walking proof for his current favorite philosopher Otto Knittel, who deems procrastination a substitute for immortality.

So when he stumbles upon a chemical answer to his chronic indecision, Dwight takes his first decisive action and snatches up the bottle of psychotropics. Dwight's indecisiveness doesn't however stop him from interpreting an ambiguous email from a female acquaintance as an invitation for him to fly down to Ecuador to visit her.

Prior to his inevitably pivotal trip to South America, we meet Dwight's family: his punk rocker cum anthropology professor sister Alice, for whom Dwight has long harbored inappropriate feelings, his verbally abusive but fiscally supportive alcoholic father, and his mother, who concerns herself with nothing so much as her continued ability to look good in a high heels and possibly commit the remainder of her life as an Episcopal nun.

In spite of his upbringing or perhaps because of it, Dwight is a likable enough narrator. Though a creature of privileged lassitude, he is sincere, thoughtful, and optimistic, and his endless musings throughout Ben Kunkel's Indecision make for funny, tasty, and easily digestible brain-candy.

No, not much happens. As you might expect, Indecision is reminiscent of Douglas Coupland's first novel about an earlier generation of idlers. Like Generation X, Benjamin Kunkel's novel is a dissection of a deep exploration into a life of limbo and the concurrent philosophizing about the vapid nature of said life. What holds this together is the author's deft turn of phrase and uncannily subtle comic sense:

From the landing I fetched the Sunday New York Times, four thick pounds of information. On average I read only maybe two ounces or so. Yet I felt excused in this by our whole collective ownership of the thing, and simply by the nature of Sunday as that recurrent day whose tremendous potential seems much more enjoyable than any actual use of it could be. Usually if the weather was at all iffy I'd just sit inside idling, fueling myself with coffee, and looking out the window at the shoppers and brunchers going by, the terror-tourists headed down the street. I'd sit inside and luxuriate in the impossibility of mailing out overdue bills, or sending anyone my resume, renter references, or questionable credit report. Alice had warned me that soon the Postal Service would be privatized, and I wanted to savor this sabbathy pleasure while it lasted. (p.41)

Indecision is very entertaining in its comic-philosophical musings, and the pacing makes for a fast read. Unfortunately, one can't help but feel a little gypped by the novel's climax and artificial ending. But is Indecision contrived or is it allegorical, as Dwight's character is an admitted cliché from the start? Dwight returns from the rainforest with a beautiful woman on his arm, a clear guiding principle (Democratic Socialism) for his life, and an assuredness that he will be envied, or at least not pitied, at his ten year reunion. With our hero's problems so succinctly and miraculously solved, you have to wonder why we bothered troubling ourselves over him in the first place.