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Rating: 
Summary: An odd lesson in siezing the day
Review: A friend of mine insisted that this was the best book he'd ever read, and after finishing it, I'm curious to know if I missed something. Jim Oliver's novel is the story of a wealthy family's handling of their matriarch's terminal illness. It is told mostly through the viewpoint of the family's gay son, Pete, an affable but wishy-washy character. I feel the one main problem with this book is the abundance of sub-plots created for undeveloped characters. Most of them are summarily dropped without conclusions. One sister is having an affair, another sister is worried her husband is having an affair, the brother is doing some kind of insider trading, and a friend is considering going to Saudi Arabia for a job despite being Jewish and deathly afraid of flying. These characters are given screen-time but little development, and the reader ends up having no real investment in them. Pete is vaguely dissatisfied with his life, and he doesn't learn until very late in the story what his goal is, and it's probably much too late for the reader. What he wants involves a contrived, unexplained get-rich scheme and the new found ability to be spontaneous and do things he's always wanted to do. The reader doesn't know of these desires until two-hundred pages into the book, and the book only has 249 pages. Apparently, a major hurdle for our hero is officially coming out to his family. The problem is that it wasn't established very well that he was fearfully or despondently closeted and it's fairly obvious that they all know anyway and accept him as he is. On the plus side, Liz Flowers, the aforementioned matriarch, is a strong and believable character. A reader could probably be inspired by her fortitude in the face of death. Furthermore, the topic of AIDS is discussed intelligently and rationally, and although the AIDS subplot is also unresolved, one can deduce that it's not important to know if Pete has AIDS, it's just important for him to start living life. A good lesson, but if perhaps he had been a more vivid and lovable character, this would have been a more compelling story. I would probably still recommend it to some readers interested in early 90's gay fiction.
Rating:
Summary: An odd lesson in siezing the day
Review: A friend of mine insisted that this was the best book he'd ever read, and after finishing it, I'm curious to know if I missed something. Jim Oliver's novel is the story of a wealthy family's handling of their matriarch's terminal illness. It is told mostly through the viewpoint of the family's gay son, Pete, an affable but wishy-washy character. I feel the one main problem with this book is the abundance of sub-plots created for undeveloped characters. Most of them are summarily dropped without conclusions. One sister is having an affair, another sister is worried her husband is having an affair, the brother is doing some kind of insider trading, and a friend is considering going to Saudi Arabia for a job despite being Jewish and deathly afraid of flying. These characters are given screen-time but little development, and the reader ends up having no real investment in them. Pete is vaguely dissatisfied with his life, and he doesn't learn until very late in the story what his goal is, and it's probably much too late for the reader. What he wants involves a contrived, unexplained get-rich scheme and the new found ability to be spontaneous and do things he's always wanted to do. The reader doesn't know of these desires until two-hundred pages into the book, and the book only has 249 pages. Apparently, a major hurdle for our hero is officially coming out to his family. The problem is that it wasn't established very well that he was fearfully or despondently closeted and it's fairly obvious that they all know anyway and accept him as he is. On the plus side, Liz Flowers, the aforementioned matriarch, is a strong and believable character. A reader could probably be inspired by her fortitude in the face of death. Furthermore, the topic of AIDS is discussed intelligently and rationally, and although the AIDS subplot is also unresolved, one can deduce that it's not important to know if Pete has AIDS, it's just important for him to start living life. A good lesson, but if perhaps he had been a more vivid and lovable character, this would have been a more compelling story. I would probably still recommend it to some readers interested in early 90's gay fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: A celebration and acceptance of gay life
Review: How many times have you borrowed a book and then went out to buy it AFTER you read it? This book is a keeper, probably one of the best books of gay fiction I've read. While it was indeed tough to get into the book at first, as one reviewer commented, it was well worth the read. Once past the first few chapters, I wasn't able to put it down. It made me smile, and there were chapters in there (particularly when describing his brother-in-law poolside) that you wondered why it was in the book at all. But, afterward, the payoff was such that you were even tempted to reread these chapters over again, hoping to get the point once more. What I liked about this book was its celebration and acceptance of gay life from various perspectives, all not necessarily gay (for instance, from his Mother's point of view). This book will have you smiling, and wanting to remember particular lines, and jumping for joy. And maybe even give you a few good, happy tears at points. I would most assuredly recommend this book to anyone. A must read!
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the price of admission.
Review: I don't know what the reviewers were on when they read this book, but it certainly effected their judgement. This book is terrible! I couldn't get past the 2nd chapter. It has no organization whatsover. I almost became dizzy trying to keep track of who was who. It's just plain poor writing. Nothing against the author at all, but that's how it is. Avoid at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: Poignant
Review: It's interesting to go back and read these books that were written before the mid-nineties and the introduction of protease inhibitors. They are often angry, desperately sad, or hopeless. But this one chooses to focus not on the fear of AIDS, though it's a subtext throughout the book, but how foolish it is to think that any of us are somehow exempt from mortality and illness. While the main character and his family cope with the mother's failing health, and in spite of being adult children, there are still dramas to be played out, choices to be made, lives to be lived. And amidst suffering, love to be discovered--or rediscovered--both familial and romantic--and invited into one's life for nourishment. At times humorous, at times painful, this novel is at heart a balanced look at decent people navigating their way through their daily lives.
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