MacArthur Park Paperback – January 10, 2017

This novel, which is about literal and metaphorical extremes of weather (it opens with Hurricane Sandy in NYC), could not feel more timely at this juncture, when our country (and maybe the world) seems to be splintering apart (from extremes of weather). With so many of us/everyone trying to cope with this reality, the book, though not "structured" in any traditional sense, feels like a roadmap through this process, at least for the narrator and, by extension, the reader (or this reader). Parts of the novel are written like a first-person memoir about the narrator, his boyfriend, and two of their other (Brooklyn) friends, while other parts explore, analyze, and digress into the history of cults and California (or both), along with another arc about an artists retreat in upstate New York that may or may not be a cult. There is a very entertaining trip to the Tom of Finland Foundation in L.A. There are descriptions of The Spectrum -- a gay dance club in Brooklyn -- that reminded me (a little, in a good way) of "Dancer from the Dance" (but for a very different generation). There are sections of art/architecture/music (Donna Summer) theory and criticism that are sometimes serious and sometimes funny (or both), but always framed through a gay lens. It's a Big Novel that's written with an unapologetic intelligence and gay/queer sensibility that should appeal to anyone interested in what makes fiction relevant in 2017.

Wow. I wasn't prepared for the brilliance of this novel. Going back in for a second read. Such a joy to discover writers like this.