"Nico's Guide To Foreplay" is a penetrating excursion into the lives of Norman (Nico) Nicolovich who meets Zachary Dash Johnson, at the Wharton Business School. Their relationship is elegantly interwoven with their search for male self-identity, and a provocative co-dependence, dramatically revealed, that shapes their lives forever.
Nico is poor, handsome, charismatic, and a magnet for women who relish the thrills of his rebellious "bad boy" behavior. Nico takes sex with women for granted. His antagonistic mother refuses to buy a small red child's chair at a local flea market crushing Nico's most basic desires. This fuels his ambitions for monetary success, while masking the deeper insecurities seeded from a childhood without compassion and love.
Zachary is wealthy, privileged and interested in Buddhism. His blue eyes are particularly penetrating provoking deep reactions from those around him. He lives alone in a town house in Philadelphia, is shy, and finds it difficult to talk to women. An ad for escort women in the yellow pages leads to a meeting with three different women. Devi is Indian, Paula is English, and Katsumi is Japanese. Their cultural backgrounds influence the way they teach him about sex and love. Devi and Zach fall in love but are forced to part, which they do with a ritual. Devi gives Zack a small worn Indian deity called Ganesh, and he gives her a ring inscribed "One as Two become One". They still have them when they meet later in life in India.
Nico and Zach form a business importing fabrics from Asia for the fashion industry. Zach's father buys them a large loft in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan to use as a place to live and work. Dana Holmes a friend from high school who is secretly in love with Nico answers his ad for an assistant and is hired for the job. Zach leaves for Asia to search for fabrics, which gives him the opportunity to visit temples and further his spiritual quest.
Nico meets Jenna, a native New Yorker. He is unaware that prior to meeting him, she was in a relationship with David Morse, a research scientist. When David leaves for research in Africa he comes up with a plan to keep Jenna waiting for him when he returns. He suggests she become a courtesan and gives her permission to interact and sleep with other men on one condition. She must describe all of her sexual encounters through letters to him. She hesitates but then agrees and keeps this secret, which complicates the relationship with Nico who falls deeply in love with her. Jenna falls in love with Nico but when she realizes he could never accept her deceit, she refuses his proposal for marriage. He is blindsided.
Zach meets an Indian guru devoted to healing. He convinces Zach his blue eyes are powerful enough to heal and invites him to be part of his ashram. Zach makes a difficult decision to follow this path and leave the business. The loss of both Zach and Jenna sends Nico into a tailspin. He has an accident and is in a coma. Dana realizes the only person who can save Nico is Zach who comes back to use his skills to heal his friend.
Throughout the book there is a focus on the attraction to the unavailable and the excitement in foreplay. As the two men struggle with emotional scars so do the women they love. Foreplay heightens anticipation and excitement, but that alone is not enough. Nico and Zach experience loss and disappointment to reach the depth of self-awareness they seek. In the end the reader is a witness to a story about the emotional strength we gain from human bonding powerful enough to contend with the relentless pace of our modern world.
