A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living is the debut novel by American author Michael Dahlie, published in 2008 by W. W. Norton.
Overview
The novel follows Arthur Camden, a sixty-something man from an old upper-class Manhattan family. Arthur is the great-grandson of the owner of Maidenhead Grange, a beloved Catskills fly-fishing club that is home to the Hanover Street Fly Casters (a group founded in 1878 by twelve Manhattan financiers). The story centers on Arthur's series of personal and professional failures: he accidentally burns Maidenhead Grange to the ground, has destroyed his marriage, and has ruined the family's import-export business. The novel traces his attempts to rebuild his life and find a measure of grace and self-awareness.
Publication Details
- Author: Michael Dahlie
- Publisher: W. W. Norton
- Publication Date: June 17, 2008
- Pages: 256
- ISBN: 0-393-06617-7 (hardback)
- Genre: Novel / Social comedy
Awards
The novel won the 2009 PEN/Hemingway Award, and Michael Dahlie received a Whiting Award in 2010.
Critical Reception
- Publishers Weekly called the book an "entertaining debut," noting that "Dahlie's dry and understated portrayal of old upper-crust Manhattan is as crisp and authentic as a well-made gin and tonic."
- Janet Maslin of The New York Times reviewed the book, describing it as "perhaps too polite to create a big, vulgar epiphany for Arthur," but observed that by the end of his understated adventures, "he seems to have come a long way, even if he is merely stepping out of the confines of a New Yorker cartoon and into the real world."
- The Minneapolis Star Tribune described it as "a tour filled with moments of grace and angst, and an overwhelming sense that compassion matters."
