A review by seeinghowitgoes
Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley

2.0

So, this was my venture into the fiction realm. This was a recommendation from the Book Swapping website underneath Gay Literature. But seriously, it could have been about any type of sexuality and still have been boring.

Set in the aftermath of 9/11, the main character William Collins a 44 year old Gay man who currently works in Real Estate, has a cleaning obsession and no steady relationship starts worrying about his life. The past year of his life has consisted of any number of meaningless sexual encounters and in an attempt to enrich his life decides to take on a vow of celibacy. The problem is, I'm not interested in this type of novel.

Written in the first person it's a rather meandering look at William's life as he confronts celibacy (not very well mind you, as the actual celibacy only really kicks in during the last 2 or so weeks of the novel), love and life. Side characters are introduced who seem equally folorn in their lives, the wife Charlotte and her cheating husband, William's best friend Edward who is fatally in love with Will all combine together to create a rambling novel which culminates in a twist worthy of a cheesy romantic comedy.