When The Offspring Have Sprung
(Mirth and madness reign supreme in William C. Anderson's ...)
Mirth and madness reign supreme in William C. Anderson's 1978 high-flying comedy of a middle-aged man's return to college. His children, having all left home (hence the title), our hero struggles with a wild, restless feeling. His sympathetic wife takes control, dissuades him from flying across the country in a balloon, and the couple moves to San Diego where he enrolls in college. Once in the swing of college days, Anderson happily makes friends with the students, gets involved with their love lives, literary ambitions, political causes, and their troubles with the law. He marches on a picket line and sponsors one of the contestants in a hilarious bathtub race. The novel touches upon a topic largely ignored: what does a couple do when their kids have fled the nest and retirement age approaches? The Andersons saw two options: to get a hammock and swing themselves to death or charge the golden years with all flags flying. They chose the second. The pace is steady, and the comedy is steady too, yet Anderson is at times tender and genuinely moving. Witty and warm, When The Offspring Have Sprung has all the freshness and ease of the best Anderson books.
https://www.amazon.com/When-Offspring-Sprung-William-Anderson-ebook/dp/B00795BWX8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=When+the+Offspring+Have+Sprung+William+C.+Anderson&qid=1595412657&s=books&sr=1-1
1978