The Tunnel of Love

Rating:
Summary: Early work, minus the hard, biting satire of his best
Review: In my search for humorous narrative, I ran across a listing of various authors who, supposedly, wrote humorous books. I could tell from my familiarity with some of the authors on the list that it was somewhat of a scattershot, but that came as no surprise--what people find funny differs as much as their taste in music. I printed the list and visited the library, reading bits and pieces of the authors' work. The one true find from all that was Peter De Vries.

De Vries was a writer and editor for The New Yorker from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. In addition to his magazine duties, he wrote novels on the foibles of society, including satire on the suburban trend, free love, and bringing up babies. In this novel, the satire is directed at the pretensions of the well-heeled and their desires for artistic and community acceptance.

The Tunnel of Love is one of his earliest novels, and, while humorous, well written and entertaining, has only a fraction of the biting satire of his later work. I'm planning on trying to read his oeuvre chronologically, to watch the development of that wit.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe risque' would describe "Tunnel of Love".
Review: It is a bit racy in the context of the late forties. A gentle satire on the self important, pseudo intellectual, white collar, martini guzzling, suburbanites living the good life in Connecticut while fooling around/making a living in New York City.
The story concerns essentially two couples, infidelity, sex, unwanted pregnancy & adoption. They deal with their problem in a seemly childish & ridiculous way ... by our modern standards somwhat dated. The author digresses several times going off on a tangent about some philosphical gibberish but very funny anyway. This is what passed for witty sophisticated humor 50 years ago.

Rating:
Summary: A witty comic novel
Review: Peter De Vries' novel "The Tunnel of Love" is a witty, entertaining comedy about love, sex, marriage, parenthood, and friendship. It is told by a first person narrator: married with 4 children, he is the art editor for a weekly periodical called "The Townsman" and lives in Avalon, Connecticut (40 miles from New York City). The narrator's life is complicated by his friendship with Augie Poole, a cartoonist who is more appreciated for his gags than his art. When Augie and his wife, Isolde, name the narrator and his wife as references at an adoption agency, the narrator becomes more involved in Augie's personal life.

"Tunnel" features gentle humor and likeable characters. I liked how De Vries juxtaposes the quest for parenthood with the quest to be taken seriously as a creative artist; it is a richly ironic pairing of themes.

De Vries has a wonderfully witty prose style. The book is full of great quotable quotes, like "We're the victims of our morality as much as our sins." There are some really funny bits, such as this description of an adoption agency representative (from Chapter 1): "Mrs. Mash was a tall woman with a mouth like a mail slot and eyes the color of soy sauce." De Vries masterfully mines humor from such settings as PTA functions or a church dinner.

"The Tunnel of Love" is a reflection on creativity, honesty, fidelity, and temptation. De Vries' talent speaks for itself; this is one writer who, I believe, deserves more attention.

Rating:
Summary: A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Review: Tunnel of Love was first written in 1949 and is in several ways dated - women wear gloves, the men wear homburgs, the cocktail hour is firmly in place. As I was reading this witty, urbane story, I could very easily envision it on a 1940's/1950's movie screen, with Cary Grant & David Niven. But the themes and messages are timeless.

The narrator who is a magazine art editor and given to wise- cracking is also in the embarrassing position of having to reject his neighbor & best friend's work. He also becomes entangled in the same friend's messy amorous affairs, and once or twice tries to have an affair himself without much luck.

The plot thickens as friend Augie and his wife decide to adopt a child. The narrator does not see Augie as real parent material, but in spite of that has agreed to give a recommendation to the adoption agency. When he is interviewed by the agency, he loses his voice. The couple are rejected by the first agency, they go to another with no luck, so they return to the first. They finally receive the baby of their dreams, but shortly afterwards Augie's wife Isolde learns of Augie's past affairs and kicks him out of the house. They do get back together again in "happy ending" style.

Author Peter de Vries, who often wrote for "The New Yorker," condemns gently. There is a definite recognition of the turmoil and hurt that bad behavior causes, but de Vries also sees people as very human and more often in need of persuasion & understand- ing than in need of a swat over the head with a baseball bat. Add to the mix his wry humor and you have a really enjoyable & wonderful book.