Writer’s block, an abusive marriage and an obsession with success drive Josh Silver’s ‘Fruit Fly’
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver. HarperCollins. Pages 416. ~799
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If you have the emotional stamina for a novel exposing the predatory side of the publishing industry, read Josh Silver’s ‘Fruit Fly’. It follows the escapades of Mallory, a bestselling author in London, who is desperate to overcome a severe case of writer’s block that is keeping her from churning out yet another successful title. She hopes to land a deal that will fill her bank account with enough money to walk out of an abusive marriage.
Silver offers an unsettling peek into her mind, which is weighed down by the kind of effusive praise that is hard to live up to. Hailed as “a modern-day Virginia Woolf” by a literary critic gushing over her debut novel, the protagonist is so out of her depth that she finds herself reading a blog called ‘How to Write a Bestseller: 6 Easy Steps’.
Latching on to the advice that “the perfect blend is gay and sad”, she begins stalking Leo, a gay drug addict and sex worker.
This book is a punch in the gut
This book is a punch in the gut. It combines satire and suspense to paint an alarming portrait of an author with few qualms about exploiting the trauma of a homeless person, who is a rape survivor. Leo’s life is nothing but material for her. She ends up writing a novel that borrows heavily from his misfortunes, with no regard for his right to privacy. Goaded by her editor Stan to mine the inner turmoil of the character modelled after Leo, she walks down a path that puts ambition above ethics and integrity.
Silver draws on his training as an actor and his work as a mental health nurse to build characters with depth. Their idiosyncrasies and frailties make them come across as real people. Mallory and Leo are not the only ones who are troubled and restless.
Mallory’s husband, Ronan, who works as a commissioning editor with the UK arm of Netflix, lives off her earnings but succeeds in making her believe that she is mentally unstable and cannot take care of herself. The situation worsens when he curtails her mobility, takes away her phone, and installs surveillance technology in the house.
‘Fruit Fly’ is also worth reading
‘Fruit Fly’ is also worth reading for its scathing critique of the unregulated mental health sector. Mallory, for instance, calls herself a therapist after taking a 12-week online diploma course. Shockingly, Ronan assures her, “Therapist sounds better than counsellor. And anyway, it’s all the same thing. They’re mostly quacks. And you’re a successful author, so people will believe you.”
There is a hilarious scene wherein Mallory wants Leo to fill out a worksheet to identify the root cause of his problems. Puncturing her enthusiasm, Leo says, “I’ve just nearly been murdered, mate, I dunno if a worksheet is gonna cut it.” The author’s genius lies in conveying what they have in common: they want money to escape from suffering, and are more than willing to lie.
Moreover, both feel compelled to have sex without experiencing any pleasure. Leo does it to feed his addiction. Mallory does it because Ronan wants a baby. But the book does not romanticise victimhood; it captures how the hunger for agency can extract a heavy price.
— The reviewer is a literary critic
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