MY LIFE AS A WHALE by...

MY LIFE AS A WHALE by Dyan Sheldon (Avon: $10.; 258 pp.). Michael Householder, the narrator of this effortfully comic novel, feels that as the last single, straight man in late ‘80s Manhattan, he represents an endangered species. Weary of being pursued, he invents a fictional wife--with predictable results borrowed from “Tootsie” and other films. But the great weakness of “Whale” lies not in its lack of originality, but in his failure to create a credible male character. Michael remains a feminine vision of what a man is (or should be): He spends all his time learning to sympathize with women’s problems. Like most leftovers, the humor in “Whale” was more enjoyable the first time it was served up.