THE PASSENGER SEAT

Two high school friends fall into a rite of poisonous passage toward toxic masculinity in this debut novel.

Adam and Teddy have a complicated relationship, both complementary and competitive. Adam is the leader, yet also a loner, with Teddy his only follower. Adam lives in a world of video games and internet conspiracies; he’s likely an incel, though that’s not a term the novel uses. The narrative refers to them as "boys-or-men,” but it’s unclear whether this is how they think of themselves. Psychological perspective is tricky throughout the narrative, because the novel spends plenty of time inside one or the other of their heads, switching back and forth, while some of the insights might seem to transcend the maturity of either. Neither comes from a happy home, and there is no evidence in the novel that any man and woman can have an enduring, enriching relationship. Teddy has other friends, even a girlfriend, but he somehow needs Adam—needs his nerve, his impulsiveness, but perhaps mostly needs him because Adam has a driver’s license and Teddy does not. Adam persuades Teddy to hit the road and leave their homes forever. Teddy convinces Adam that they should buy a rifle, which, sure as Chekhov, will prove pivotal. (It’s Teddy who has this license.) The titular passenger seat is Teddy’s, though they will eventually switch off. As Adam asks himself, “What would either of them be without the other to define him?” Even with each other, just who are they and where are they going? Their pilgrimage seems to carry the weight of modern masculinity on its shoulders, without any lightening of warmth or humor. A coda focusing on two other friends, middle-aged and purposeless, suggests that the going doesn’t get any easier once boys become men.

A novel for those who like their grimness unadulterated by any glimmer of redemption.