An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer is about the struggles of a sixty-something man after the death of his wife. Many of his friends try unsuccessfully to set him up with friends and relatives, and his step-children get together and put an ad in the newspaper:Science Guy. Erudite and kind, balding but handsome. Our widowed dad is the real thing for the right woman.
Jersey/Metropolitan New York
Unfortunately, most of the women who respond are not "the right woman" but each of them is a type we all recognize. His encounters are funny, tender and sad as he tries to deal with his grief and embark on carving out a new life for himself, one he would prefer to be of solitude.
I thought this was a lovely story and well written.
