Veronica Geng was on the staff of The New Yorker from 1975 to 1993 and wrote reviews, short stories, and comedic articles. Love Trouble was recommended in the Wall Street Journal so I found a copy and read it.

My favorite piece in Love Trouble is Geng’s “Macdonald,” (p. 167) a snarky “Introduction” to the Da Capo Press edition of Dwight Macdonald’s Parodies. Geng was stuck on how to approach to writing the “Introduction” when Donald Fagan suggested, “Why don’t you pretend you think he’s John D. MacDonald?” This tapped into Geng’s affection for the Travis McGee novels so she went with it. Very funny and clever!

My only quibble with Love Trouble is that many of the pieces involve politicians and celebrities who have faded away. Those articles and stories aged badly. But, there’s plenty here that are still funny and brilliant! GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / Ian Frazier — xi
Partners (1984)
Report from Your Congressman — 3
Lulu in Washington — 8
My Mao — 14
Ten Movies That Take Women Seriously — 19
The Sixth Man — 29
Partners — 32
Buon Giorno, Big Shot — 34
A Man Called Jose — 36
Petticoat Power — 39
What Makes Them Tick — 45
More Mathematical Diversions — 47
James at an Awkward Age — 52
Teaching Poetry Writing to Singles — 55
The Stylish New York Couples — 60
Masterpiece Tearjerker — 62
Serenade — 67
Curb Carter Policy Discord Effort Threat — 76
Kemp, Dent in Reagan Plans — 77
The Reagan History of the United States — 80
Pac Hits Fan — 84
The Sacred Front — 87
The Revised Dictionary of Slang and Uncontrollable English — 102
Coming Apart at the Semes — 105
Record Review — 111
Indecent Indemnity — 116
Now at West Egg — 124
Supreme Court Roundup — 126
Lobster Night — 129
Pepys’s Secret Diaries! — 136
Love Trouble is my Business (1988)
The New Thing — 141
Tribute — 146
Love Trouble Is My Business — 149
Totaled — 152
Secret Ballot — 155
Our Side of the Story — 159
Macdonald — 164
For Immediate Release — 168
Canine Chateau — 174
The Buck Starts Here — 180
Settling an Old Score — 182
The Twi-Night Zone — 193
Codicil — 200
The 1985 Beaujolais Nouveaux: Ka-Boum! — 203
Equal Time — 207
Remorse — 210
Mario Cabot’s School Days — 215
What Happened — 219
Hands Up — 224
More Unwelcome News — 226
Poll — 234
My and Ed’s Peace Proposals — 238
Pat Robertson’s Catalogue Essay for a New Exhibition of Paintings / David Salle — 240
A Lot in Common — 244
New Stories (1987-1996)
Not an Endorsement — 255
Man and His Watch — 258
Summer Session — 261
My Ideal — 268
Nowhere to Run — 272
Post-Euphoria — 278

Salt of Life — 281

Faculty Lounge Surveillance Tapes — 287

The Cheese Stands Alone — 290

Primes Suspects, U.S.A. — 292

Testing, Testing… — 295

Makes the Going Great — 297

A Good Man Is Hard to Keep: The Correspondence of Flannery O’Connor and S. J. Perelman (with Garrison Keillor) — 300

My Dream Team — 304

La Cosa Noshtra — 310