Six Figures

by Fred G. Leebron

Fred G. Leebron's remarkable novel takes place in the chain-restaurant mecca of Charlotte, North Carolina, in a cramped, shabby house where Warner Lutz can't stop mulling over his rage and his many failures. His wife, Megan, tries to keep him smiling, but he lives up to his role as "the most negative person she'd ever met." Sometimes his two children cause glimmerings of life in his burned-out soul, but more often they are crying, soiling their pants, asking stupid questions over and over. For readers on the verge of entering marriage and family life, Six Figures could make even the most stoic turn and run in the other direction. The creeped-out hangover this novel leaves is a testament to Leebron's great powers. Like John Cheever, he makes you wonder if maybe the whole thing--putting kids to sleep, having dinner, lovemaking, trying to make enough money--isn't all somehow a slow and terminal act of violence. Warner loses it one Saturday morning, after drinking a double vodka for breakfast and helping his wife change their baby boy. While his daughter and wife look on, he gets to his knees and tries to squeeze himself into a space underneath the crib:

He was too thick to fit under the crib. He pulled out the activity blanket and tried again. The metal latticework hooked itself the length of the mattress. He poked at the white bedding. "I'm down here," he said. "Down here. Here."

Leebron has written one previous novel, Out West, and has won all the big prizes and taught at all the good workshops. For those in the literary world who wagered on him, Six Figures is proof that he was a good bet. It is a novel so quintessentially modern, and so carefully crafted that it's almost impossible to put down. This is not because Warner is a "likable" character (he's frequently detestable) or because a lot happens (aside from one terrible crime two thirds into the book, not much does). Six Figures succeeds because of the way rage seeps into the humdrum world Warner occupies; the way his little gripes build one upon another until they seem on the verge of killing him, or those around him. Leebron has written a book that runs over the reader like a tidal wave, even as his impeccable prose lulls you like a calm sea. --Emily White

Genres: Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Dennis Littrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family in trouble

This is an especially well-done examination of the nature of families in a time of crisis. The "six figures" of the title, despite the artwork on the cover, are not the members of the extended family (since there are nine of them, even ten, if you count the brother). More likely the six figures are the dream of yearly income that signifies success in our society.

The central character is Warner Lutz, a thirty-something yuppie who manages a fund-raising non-profit organization (at about $30,000 a year) in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is married to Megan, who tends a shop that sells art objects. They have two children, Sophia, who is four, and Daniel, who is perhaps two. At the crisis they are joined by Megan's mother, Nan, a high-powered business woman who does indeed command over six figures a year, Warner's mother, Ruth, a workaholic who doesn't entirely believe or trust her son, and her husband, Alan, who is fat and seventy and sleeps a lot. There is also Nan's estranged husband and his wife (who really play no part in the story).

The central event of the novel occurs about halfway through. It comes as a surprise, and therefore shouldn't be revealed here, and I won't. I will say that Warner is accused and most everyone, including the police, believe he is guilty. Leebron's narrative deliberately does not allow us to know. Leebron wants to examine the event and its aftermath and how it affects the family regardless of whether Warner is guilty or not; indeed it is important that the truth not be known. It appears that no one else could have done it, but it that proof? Leebron hints at why Warner might have done it, but Warner says he is innocent. He is not believed. His life falls apart.

There is a long preparation for this central event in which the circumstances of the Lutz's are slowly revealed. We experience the frustration of their careers, the demands of being working parents, the alienation that comes with being northerners in a southern town. He is from Pennsylvania, nominally Jewish. Megan is a New Yorker. Some events of the past are recalled and how they effect their lives at present and perhaps foreshadow events to come. He comes under pressure because of a financial impropriety not of his doing. Sophia has trouble at pre-school. They don't feel they are making enough money. And then the central event comes crashing down on them, perhaps putting their lives into perspective.

Leebron's style is a laudable attempt at a kind of realistic objectivity, an attitude toward his characters that is understanding, even forgiving, but without sentimentality. His prose is for the most part without flourish, without mannerism, the "invisible" style of the writer who does not want to detract from his story. The characterizations are vivid and, after a slow start, a fine tension is achieved that carries us to the conclusion. This is an excellent work, marred slightly by an incidental quality as though a short story were being stretched into a novel.

--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've recently completed reading every book available by Richard Yates (started all this a year before the movie came out (the movie would have been ok except for the terrible sound track) and was happy to find this excellent book by Fred G. Leebron, who, by the way, like my friend Ray DiPalma (who was at the Iowa Program at the same time as Yates) is also a graduate of the Iowa writer's program. Sure, anyone could quibble about this or that, but the book is definitely in the Yates tradition of the mercilessly honest, unsentimental yet compassionate view of suburban living by idealistic intellectuals. The couple in this book have two children they care about and love, but their own lives, professional and personal, are struggles that hover constantly on the brink of disaster, as a result of torturous emotional problems that are made believable by portraits of their own parents that are an essential part of the plot. The writing is spare and also has a lovely syncopated, strangely direct yet slightly fuzzy quality I admired greatly. Publisher's weekly said this is a one-sitting page turner and they are right.

[Susan Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

From time to time, publishers send me books in hopes that I'll add a bit about them on these pages. This is just such a book. I knew nothing about it so I started with the acknowledgements. There, in black and white, was a thank you to Christie Taylor who grew up right next door to me! She has an art gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina and the wife in this novel works in an art gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wild. Anyway, the book itself is a dark look at the world of relationships. Warner Lutz raises money for non-profit organizations. He lives with his wife and two small children and his life is falling apart. There is a very depressing ring of truth to everything in this story.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-written and excellent sense of place and character, this is a stressful book that covers themes of class struggle, domestic violence, family resentments, and one man’s incredible ability to be self-centered despite it all. Did not love it.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Their lives gave me a headache.

[Edythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warren Lutz and his wife, Megan have relocated to Charlotte. Warner has begun a new job at a non-profit organization. Megan begins working at an art gallery. They have two children, Sophie and Daniel
Warren and Megan both want to live a prestigious life. Shortly after the move, they purchase a home knowing Warren is still in the probationary period of his employment. Everything is going at a steady pace until an audit uncovers misappropriation of funds at Warren’s job, and Megan is attacked at the art gallery. With her injuries, Megan has to be hospitalized and Warren, the main suspect, is arrested. Warren may not go near Megan and will only be able to see the children under court-ordered supervision. Where will they go from here?
Megan’s mother does everything she can to keep Warren away from the children and Megan. As Warren and Megan work through their situation, Megan has second thoughts. Did Warren really attack Megan? Why can’t she remember?
Fred G. Leebron has written a mystery novel that will have you turning pages quickly. The short story starts out a little slow but picks up towards the middle of the book. It left me wondering if there would be a follow-up story. I recommend this novel to readers who like short stories and mystery novels.
I received this book free from Open Road Integrated Media for this review.

[Tripp]

The back cover blurb claims this is "part thriller and part psychological drama." The second part is true, and the first is blurbspeak, at which Fred rolls his eyes if asked. Yes, Megan Lutz, at her job in a Charlotte art gallery, is struck on the head from behind halfway through the novel and spends part of the novel in a coma, and even when recovered is unable to identify her attacker, and yes her husband Warner, newly hired fundraising director of a nonprofit, is known by all, even his parents, to have a quick temper.

However, I never considered Warner a suspect, though I was fascinated to watch as others--even his mother--came to regard him as the only logical person to blame. The novel is exact in exploring the many layers of the several relationships here, between husband and wife, son and parent, son-in-law and mother-in-law, employee and employer, and the complicating factors of young children, the pressure of being nonprofit and less affluent in a city like Charlotte that values banking, affluence, and status and little else. You see how life finds and exploits all the fault lines in a personality and in a relationship, grinding away until only rubble is left.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Iowa Summer Writing Festival teacher. Signed copy (which I gave to our city library's sale). Good solid writing, but something is lacking. Just not quite up there with the best. I see what he’s aiming for, a subtle exploration of the family, the couple. But so many things are too subtle or unclear. Even at the end at which point Warner Lutz’s sarcastic explosion tells us he “didn’t do it” (hit his wife with a hammer), the details are lacking. I know it’s not a whodunit but the reader wants to know who dun it. [Maybe that’s my problem, a latent commercial reader who is quite comfortable with having loose ends tied up neatly.]

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great done-in-a-day book examining the anxieties of marital life and what would really happen in a family if a sudden tragedy occurred. The stuff of a "Law & Order" episode is here made frighteningly real when a husband is accused of attacking his wife: How do their parents deal with each other? What do the kids think? Not so much a who-done-it but a how-do-you-get-over-it. Very engaging.

[Carla Hunnicutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel set in Charlotte, NC (although it could be anytown, USA, really), about a man struggling with the pressures of suburban American life. With a wife and two small children, a stressful job raising money for a non-profit, and financial pressures, he is preoccupied with achieving success, by society's standards, but he is also sick of it all. When his wife becomes the victim of an accident, he becomes a suspect and the reader is left to wonder, did he or didn't he?

[michella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would maybe give this 2 1/2 stars. It held my interest for the most part but it just seemed to be missing the meat and bones of a really good novel for me. it seemed to flip flop through the emotions of each character and not really explain or give them any real depth. overall, nice try and good read.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Six Figures" by Fred G. Leebron is a story about a man and his family/work life and all he feels is lacking. From the very beginning of the book you can tell how stressed out and bitter he is with everything. Things change and go crazy when there is an attempted murder on his wife and he is the prime suspect.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I plan on giving this book another chance someday, but when I read it a few years back, it was so difficult to follow and ultimately plot-less that it's haunted me since.

[Elyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is written in the same vein of Little Children and almost as funny and entertaining.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good caracter development in a bad marriage. A tought situation with an attack and the husband gets accused.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird plot. I was confused...maybe it was too deep for me. I thought maybe it was going to be more financial than it was....

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love dysfunctional family stories, but this was decidedly meh.

[Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This may be the most depressing book I've ever read. Well-written, but just a complete downer and not enjoyable to read.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't quite get this book, it feels really formulaic because the characters feel too rigid. I finished it because the story was interesting but....the store did not resolve itself.

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly depressing and very dry and slow- does not develop the characters