A discerning, unforgiving look at the absurd world of advertising, through the eyes of a flawed character trying to grow up.
Finbar Dolan, the sexually frustrated, commitment-phobic, 30-something protagonist of Truth in Advertising, is an archetypal beta male. He works in advertising, where he’s carved out a reputation as a competent but not exceptional copywriter, and he sucks at sustaining loving relationships — he spontaneously canceled his engagement and has cut off contact with his dysfunctional family.
Author John Kenney breathes new life into the emotionally-stunted-guy narrative, infusing it with humor and generosity. The book turns a discerning, unforgiving eye toward the absurd world of advertising, in which people earnestly say things like “diarrhea should be aspirational.” Over the course of the novel, Finbar comes to understand his abusive father, learning in the process how to commit to big decisions.
Truth in Advertising wants to be both a satire and a heartwarming story of recovery from childhood trauma. Though the latter effort is touching, its pace can grow tedious and the tonal shifts are jarring. Reader Robert Petkoff exacerbates Kenney’s tendency to stereotype, bestowing a Japanese businessman with a Mr. Miyagi-like accent and reading love interest Pheobe with a breathy, vapid voice.
In trying to reconcile cynical humor and humaneness, Truth in Advertising sometimes leads the two perspectives to clash. Though Kenney might not inspire epiphanies in his readers, he’s all but guaranteed to provoke laughter.
