Twilight Man: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: sensitive and sincere
Review: Perhaps we take for granted the breakdown of interracial barriers in modern relationships, but Lenore Dekoven's story about the marriage between a black man and white woman in 1960s New York, and later 1970s LA, serves to remind us of the painful, often too-human cost to the social 'enlightenment' we currently enjoy - such as it is. In this poignant portrayal of one couple's battle to keep their relationship alive in the midst of overwhelming societal pressure and the blatant prejudice of both black and white communities, the writer sensitively shows us how deeply ingrained, insidious, and ironically color-blind, racism can be. That the story is set amid the backdrop of glamorous Hollywood - here exposed in all its sordidness and cruelty - gives the tale larger-than-life cautionary overtones to carry over into a reader's twenty-first century sensibility. Yet, despite the often sobering subject matter, Dekoven's two central characters emerge as warm, human and tragically vulnerable, drawn with the minimum of sentimentality, wry humor, and a lot of love.

Rating:
Summary: a great read
Review: Twilight Man is a wonderfully detailed, moving novel about an interracial marriage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The two main characters, Karen and Conrad, are likeable, warm, and fully developed, and you can't help but root for them. In fact, they stayed with me for days after I finished the book. Lenore DeKoven's attention to detail is wonderful, and the descriptions of the characters' lives in LA is particularly interesting. Their day-to-day struggles to make their marks in Hollywood is made all the more difficult by pressures from both the black and white communities, and by the complexities of negotiating a social life that includes them both. Heartbreaking, funny, and sexy. All in all, a great read.