Playworld by Adam Ross
Adam Ross is the author of MR. PEANUT, which was selected as one of the best books of 2010 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Economist. He’s also the editor of the literary journal The Sewanee Review. His newest book, PLAYWORLD, is an astonishing work of fiction based loosely upon his own life as a child actor in New York City during the 1980’s.
The opening line is both a trigger warning and a harbinger. It opens with the protagonist, Griffin Hurt, remembering back to his fourteenth year.
“In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty-six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn’t seem strange at the time.”
Griffin Hurt’s character is at once charming in his naivete, heartbreaking in his vulnerability, and winsome in his earnestness. He is sincere but lacks agency. In short, he has not yet discovered who he is and what he wants to be. But some of the adults in his life are more than willing to take over – directing, manipulating, and controlling his life.
Griffin is an actor, cast in the role of Peter Proton in a show called The Nuclear Family. He’s talented, but mostly indifferent to his talent. His father is an actor – usually playing small roles or singing jingles for television commercials – and it is more his father’s dream than his own. His mother is a dancer, now a dance teacher, and to fill her spare time, goes to college. Griffin and his brother Oren and their friends are often left to their own devices in a town full of self-absorbed adults. It’s the 80’s, the age of excess, when Reaganomics was enriching already filthy rich Americans. Griffin’s family lingers on the periphery of their wealthy friends, snacking on their leftovers, included for their entertainment value.
His relationship with his brother Oren is often competitive but Griffin genuinely loves him. As the older brother, Griffin feels protective of Oren, and is devastated when he later learns that he abandoned him early in their lives during a life-threatening incident in their apartment. That is not how Griffin remembers it – but then it seems Griffin lives most of his life on the outside looking in – as if he is watching his life on a television screen. I loved Griffin and was rooting for him throughout. I wanted him to excel as an actor, a high school wrestler, a student, a friend and a brother.
The one thing Griffin has a real passion for is wrestling, but his coach is demanding and manipulative (and creepy). Between his acting schedule, his studies at the exclusive Boyd Prep School (which he pays for out of his actors salary), and the increasing demands of his wrestling coach, he’s exhausted. He shares a therapist with his father, mother, and brother – and the therapist often falls asleep during their sessions. Cue – Naomi – who is more than willing to listen to Griffin’s trials and travails – in exchange for what she needs.
PLAYWORLD is a big book – not just in the number of pages (506) – but in its scope and themes. It will take me time to recover from this book. Griffin is a character that I will think about in the weeks and months to come. Fans of Yanagihara’s 2015 A LITTLE LIFE, should check out PLAYWORLD by Adam Ross.
This is Lin Salisbury with Superior Reviews. Listen to my conversation with Adam Ross on Superior Reads on January 23 at 7pm and the 25th at 6am.
