A Temporary New Wife

Rating:
Summary: Is Goodway really serious or joking with his readers?
Review: A Temporary New Wife is that most special and precious of books: one that entertains, thrills, enthrals and educates. It's a page-turner from start to finish and is an absolute charmer of a debut for Malcolm Goodway. Told in Goodway's inimitable tongue-in-cheek style humor he introduces his protagonist, Wilson, whose bottom line is to get partners considerably younger than himself into romantic situations. The results of his efforts turn out to produce effects in Wilson and his followers that are more than they expected. As a female reader I have gained more insight into the male thought process from this book than with any book proclaimed to instruct in such matters. A Temporary New Wife is an immensely satisfying read, one that will leave its audience craving for more.

Rating:
Summary: Praise for A Temporary New Wife
Review: A Temporary New Wife is that most special and precious of books: one that entertains, thrills, enthrals and educates. It's a page-turner from start to finish and is an absolute charmer of a debut for Malcolm Goodway. Told in Goodway's inimitable tongue-in-cheek style humor he introduces his protagonist, Wilson, whose bottom line is to get partners considerably younger than himself into romantic situations. The results of his efforts turn out to produce effects in Wilson and his followers that are more than they expected. As a female reader I have gained more insight into the male thought process from this book than with any book proclaimed to instruct in such matters. A Temporary New Wife is an immensely satisfying read, one that will leave its audience craving for more.

Rating:
Summary: Prescription Alternative
Review: As a physician serving the South Florida Community for the last 15 years I came across Malcolm Goodway's book "A Temporary New Wife" through a patient. I hadn't read a novel since my hair was full and black but decided to read this one rather than leave it sitting atop my desk for others to wonder about- alongside a picture of me and my wife. The concept proposed in this tale left me not reaching for a cigarette for the length of the story. Now I leave the book on my desk and recommend it to any patient who despite diabetes, heart disease and 5 or more medications on his list is looking for alternatives. The book is my prescription for the sagging soul. I certainly see the basis of Goodway's thinking as a way of restoring life, giving hope and adding years to your life. Good reading Malcolm.

Rating:
Summary: Prescription Alternative
Review: As a physician serving the South Florida Community for the last 15 years I came across Malcolm Goodway's book "A Temporary New Wife" through a patient. I hadn't read a novel since my hair was full and black but decided to read this one rather than leave it sitting atop my desk for others to wonder about- alongside a picture of me and my wife. The concept proposed in this tale left me not reaching for a cigarette for the length of the story. Now I leave the book on my desk and recommend it to any patient who despite diabetes, heart disease and 5 or more medications on his list is looking for alternatives. The book is my prescription for the sagging soul. I certainly see the basis of Goodway's thinking as a way of restoring life, giving hope and adding years to your life. Good reading Malcolm.

Rating:
Summary: Is Goodway really serious or joking with his readers?
Review: It is difficult to know how to classify this novel: part Socratic dialog, part farce, part human adventure tale, and part social interpretation and prescription. For me it was as difficult to tell if the author was serious or was joking with his readers. Just when I thought I had that figured out, he would throw in a curve that made me doubt my conclusion.

Sometimes that curve came out of left field instead of the pitcher's mound; as often as not, it was a description of erotic activity in each intimate anatomical detail that served to distract me from my question. Sometimes it was as odd a thing as a rather unconventional exposition about the origin of the English language.

The central purveyor of this senior male fantasy is one Wilson Wall, a retired engineer who likes to understand anything and everything through honest but merciless analysis. When he applies his method to comprehending the relationships between the sexes, he arrives at a surprising conclusion.

Attempting to apply what he has derived logically into actual practice, he unknowing starts a process of releasing pent-up forces that might portend a small social upheaval.

As all these events unfold, the stolid Wilson endeavors to remain mainstream, but he always seems to be pulled into areas he never intended to enter and over which he always seems to be struggling to control. The fight, though, is far from unpleasant, and it brings both numerous sexual adventures and a modicum of fame.

Though I never really figured out to what extent the author was really talking to us tongue-in-cheek, I found the novel a great deal of fun, maybe in part because I was always trying to solve that puzzle at an unconscious level.

Some of the characters were really hilarious, maybe not immediately, but after you thought about them for a while: a black professor who's afraid of women; a physician who's pushing Wilson to start a social movement that he won't join; a stripper who wants to become a professor of astronomy.

This first novel of Malcolm Goodway (who is he anyway, or is it a she?) A Temporary New Wife is so entertaining that I'd recommend it to anyone over the age of 21. Given the subject matter, it's probably has a special affinity to males over fifty, at least as an aid to their fantasy life. And if anyone can figure out whether Goodway is really serious, please let me know.

--Pili Pubul, poet