A Dad’s Downfall and Redemption

Novelist Mona Simpson has been praised as one of the best of her generation at plumbing the psychological complexities of family relationships. With her third novel, “A Regular Guy” (Knopf, 1996), she continues to examine the emotional ramifications of an absent father and abandoned daughter.

It’s the story of Tom Owens, a quintessentially American entrepreneur who is struggling to accept his out-of-wedlock 10-year-old daughter, Jane, as he attempts to prevent his impending ouster from the biotech empire he created.

A biotech whiz kid who had already proved himself unable to work with bosses, Owens had dropped out of college so he and his friend Frank could invent a new kind of business, working in his parents’ basement, with no time to suffer any distractions, much less to legitimize the family he had already started on his own.

Although the business eventually would make them famous and put their drowsy California town of Auburn on the map, ultimately the hero’s fate turns on the machinations of creativity versus selling out. A scene early in the novel lays the groundwork for Owens’ eventual downfall and redemption:

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The last day of her life in Auburn, Mary did the unthinkable and burst in on him at work. She had never been to the place where he and Frank planned their empire, because it was the basement of Owens’ parents’ house. She’d expected test tubes, Bunsen burners, petri dishes, chemicals, wires, smoke and possibly a conveyor belt, but instead she found Frank whistling “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” while Owens stirred his beans and rice on a hot plate. The only evidence of scientific activity was an open ruled notebook with penciled equations. The rest of the basement seemed to be a woodshop.

“Owens,” she said, “we’ve got to decide what to do.”

He lifted his hands to a loose position of prayer while Frank climbed the stairs.

“You can stay, Frank,” Owens called, but the whistling became fainter and then they heard the door bang. “I can’t have a baby now, Mare.” With one cupped hand, he touched her hair. He couldn’t give her anything in words, and this wouldn’t count. His voice built the last wall, but for a moment, Mary closed her eyes and basked. Her neck weakened and the weight of her head fell to his hand. It had been a very long time since he was kind to her. But it occurred to her that she would have to choose, between him and his child.

“I’ve just started something,” he whispered. “It’s brand new. I’ve got to give it time.”

“I’m starting something too.”

“I didn’t ask you to get pregnant.”

“But now it’s happened and we have to deal.”

Their fight escalated until he threw the beans at her. . . .

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Mona Simpson is among the more than 200 authors scheduled to appear at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday and Sunday at UCLA. Admission is free. For information, call (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 7BOOK.