Equal Affections: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Moving, with restraint....
Review: I thought this novel was quite touching and poignant. Leavitt writes with empathy and is able to delve into the different perspectives of each character. He employs restraint in his writing yet it effectively brings out the emotion of the story.

However I thought that this reserved style may be hampering at times, for example the part where the family just witnessed the passing away of Louise. I was surprised that Leavitt didn't explore their emotions further on a deeper level other than just shedding tears; maybe because everyone, including Leavitt himself, was getting a bit tired of Louise's sickness by this stage that no one has the energy for much introspection. I just felt this part was rather 'wooden'.

But by and large, this is an engrossing novel and a good read. The weaving of the characters' lives was well developed and the non-linear progression was a good complement to the story.

Rating:
Summary: Something Deeper...
Review: My fellow students and I were assigned this book in an American Studies class. While I have read a great deal of books--have been enthralled by a multitude of works--I keep going back to this book.

It's not that the characters in Equal Affections do extraordinary things, or that the situations presented are extraordinary; what attracts me to this book is because who and what are depicted are real. David Leavitt paints a picture of many issues that affect contemporary American society. Suffice it to say that he even depicts thoughts and opinions of generations past. While his characters' struggles and experiences may not apply to ALL Americans and/or their families, David Leavitt produces images, ideals, ideologies, anxieties, and other issues that continue to play an inherent role in the shaping and structuring of contemporary American culture.

While discussing this novel in my class, I was struck by how much of an impact this book had on my classmates. We each felt the need to discuss our own opinions and thoughts, including factual personal experiences, pertaining to the characters and situations in the novel: April's lesbianism and pregnancy, Walter's infidelity, Danny's demeanor, Louise's illness and her struggle for identity and independence, Nat's affair with Lillian Two-Names. In my opinion, a qualifying characteristic of a good novel lies in what kind of response (not exactly quanitity, but quality) it can provoke.

Although there are some issues in the book that I would have liked David Leavitt to explore more thoroughly (such as April's sexuality and her response to it), I believe that this is a very good novel. To me, David Leavitt conveys the fact that Americans' lives are not "perfect." He tells us that nothing can be exactly permanent, whether in sexuality, love, the stipulations that previous generations and society have placed upon us, and even society itself.

Rating:
Summary: Moving, with restraint....
Review: Not a bad read. The storyline kept me intersted; however I'm not sure if that was because I kept thinking that there wourld be some really profound emotional connection with Danny and/or April on the next page. . . ., but it never happened. By the time I finished the book I felt neither cheated out of my time nor extremely rewarded for the effort. We'll see how the next book by Leavitt works for me.

Rating:
Summary: 50 / 50 Chance You'll Enjoy It
Review: Not a bad read. The storyline kept me intersted; however I'm not sure if that was because I kept thinking that there wourld be some really profound emotional connection with Danny and/or April on the next page. . . ., but it never happened. By the time I finished the book I felt neither cheated out of my time nor extremely rewarded for the effort. We'll see how the next book by Leavitt works for me.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting story told with dull writing
Review: Thud, thud, thud went the dialogue; clang, clang, clang went the prose.

I liked the story quite a bit. It was rich with possibilities: a mother who won't stop dying as she questions her religion toward the end; a yuppified gay couple (one of whom is her son) that lives in the suburbs; a lesbian-questioning-pregnant women's music performer (the mother's daughter); a little bit of online sex; a sympathetic yet philandering father/husband. Yet it didn't work. The dialogue is so dreary, so heavy, that it reminded me of high school creative writing class. Page 244, in which April finds her way to New York and meets her brother in the airport exemplifies simplistic, sterile storytelling with truly horrendous, flat dialogue. Why can't Leavitt do his somewhat gripping story and genuinely touching plot more good than that? Oy. This novel needs a writer.