Lucian Childs

This book is a collection of six linked short stories that revolve around a central character, Kyle Turner, a gay man who has suffered betrayal and trauma. However, he is the protagonist in only one of these stories. So we mostly get to see Kyle through the eyes of others.

The craft of these stories is tight, the language arresting, and in half the stories (the last three), the depiction of setting and character is breathtaking and authentic. I absolutely believed these people exist, perhaps even now they are wandering the streets of San Francisco.

In the other half (the first three), including the story that features Kyle himself, not so much.

It's a conundrum.

The narrator of the first chapter was jarring to me. At no time did I believe I was in the head of a twelve year old girl. In my opinion, this is the least successful story in the collection. Which is too bad, because this is the launching pad of Kyle's trauma.

The second story is told in first person plural (we), which, although technically interesting, created a lot of narrative distance between the reader and what was happening on the page. The character of Kyle (who was not part of the 'we') felt very remote.

Kyle feels very unfinished to me. A cipher. I didn't really care that much about him, to be honest. He is clearly damaged by his past trauma (understandably so), but he seems very static, the stone thrown in the pond, causing ripples that destabilize the world around him. Caught up in his own pain, he seems unconscious of how he hurts others.

I think this book would have been more effective if it had been arranged in reverse order. If it started with the end, the reader's driving interest would be, what the hell happened to Kyle to make him like he is? By going back and back, layers would be peeled away and the reader's understanding, and perhaps empathy, for Kyle would increase. The way it is now, the only thing that drives the reader to the next section is the individual quality of the stories. Because the character of Kyle gets more distant, and eventually doesn't appear at all.… (plus d'informations)