The Education of Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley

I’ll be just as up-front as this novel’s protagonist would be: I adored this book.

I’ll be just as up-front as this novel’s protagonist would be: I adored this book.

OK, backing up a bit. Maybe that’s overstating it. I loved it, or at least I loved Aubrey himself.

Again: mostly. But as for perhaps a few quibbles, I’ll leave them for later.

All the way through, I felt like I knew Aubrey McKee — especially when he admitted his strange paranoias and personal shortcomings, wondering whether he’d ever measure up, even whether anyone might ever fall in love with him.

Those admissions of his may well be one of the ways Aubrey McKee weasels his way into your heart, but then honesty often provides that kind of entry point.

The Education of Aubrey McKee is Book Two of what I am assuming will be Alex Pugsley’s trilogy in fiction (or, dare I suspect, a kind of meta-fiction). If you haven’t yet read Book One, called simply Aubrey McKee, don’t think you have to read it before opening these pages. Yes, it will fill in some background, and will even introduce you to a younger version of a character or two including Aubrey, but it isn’t essential as a pre-read (though I’ll bet you’ll want to find it and give it a go).

In this round, Aubrey no longer lives in Halifax, but has gone, as so many creative types feel the need, to be part of the scene in Toronto. He hangs around with people who want to be seen, whether they’re painters or playwrights or poets—especially if they happen to be one particular poet, Gudrun Will, she of the red velvet sofa that keeps appearing and reappearing.

It’s a scene where everybody’s trying to make it, to get noticed. As Gudrun puts it, “In Toronto, the idea of a friend is sort of tactical. It’s about how you can use someone to advance your career. But I’m not sure it’s healthy. And I’m not sure I know how to do it.” Yet, as things progress, it turns out she’s better at ‘doing it’ than she might have dreamed.

In ‘real’ life, Pugsley writes for TV. As he admits, when it comes to screenwriting, he’s done it all: “comedy, drama, sci-fi, kids, mystery. I also wrote and directed a rom-com feature film.” This experience has contributed to his skill as a storyteller; there are times you have to laugh alone like crazy (and hope the other people riding the bus don’t think you’re a serial killer), while other parts might make you well up with tears.

There are oddball intrusions when Pugsley butts in with authorial asides which, I must admit, usually suit the occasion, as in this bit at an awards ceremony: “I acquire drinks—a vodka tonic and two beer—and…two gents swagger up to the bar. …as Peebo orders two vodka martinis, Huff shares his assessment of the talent in the room. What he describes, in the next run of minutes, will have a direct bearing on me and my situation, as readers will provocatively imagine, but, because I’m about to get two fair-size scenes a little later, let’s simply leave me listening—listening and drinking—a few moments more.”

There are oddball intrusions when Pugsley butts in with authorial asides which, I must admit, usually suit the occasion, as in this bit at an awards ceremony: “I acquire drinks—a vodka tonic and two beer—and…two gents swagger up to the bar. …as Peebo orders two vodka martinis, Huff shares his assessment of the talent in the room.

As I mentioned early on in these musings, I cited ‘quibbles’ which prevented me from full-on loving this book 100 per cent. To explain: I suppose anything considered ‘An Education’ (as the title suggests) might likely have an introduction as well as some kind of ‘final project’ as its conclusion.

Sure enough, after a short note that poses the question: “who would we become?” there’s a stand-alone story, “The Calvin Dover Show” which has appeared in The New Quarterly. It functions as an introduction, setting the stage for the bulk of the book. We learn that it’s the Nineties, at the edges of the Fringe Festival in Toronto. There are plenty of beautiful people holding stylish drinks that range from Heineken to Fiji water. We readers get the picture; as an intro, the story does its job.

But then, at the back of the book, we get a ‘final project’ in the form of its own three-act play that reflects a number of events from the novel and even references Book One. For me, it’s a little too cutesy a way to end a book that otherwise was delightful. Who knows. Maybe this is supposed to serve as a segue to Book Three, which I admit, despite my disappointment at what seemed to be an unnecessary, tacked-on ending to Book Two, remains a volume that I am looking forward to.

Yo, Aubrey.

Alex Pugsley is a Nova Scotia filmmaker and writer. He is the co-author of the novel Kay Darling. He was named one of CBC’s Writers to Watch and nominated for many awards, including the Canadian Comedy Awards, Gemini Awards and National Magazine Awards. Winner of the Writers’ Trust Journey Prize for his short story Crisis on Earth-X, his third Aubrey McKee novel Silver Lake is due to be released by Biblioasis.

Publisher: Biblioasis (May 7, 2024)
Paperback 5.5″ x 8.25″ | 328 pages
ISBN: 9781771965835

Heidi Greco

Website

Heidi Greco lives and writes in Surrey, BC on the territory of the Semiahmoo Nation and land that remembers the now-extinct Nicomekl People. Her most recent book, Glorious Birds (from Vancouver's Anvil Press) is an extended homage to one of her favourite films, Harold and Maude, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021. More info at her website, heidigreco.ca

(Photo credit: George Omorean)