Seize Planting Eli (Southern Tier Editions) (Southern Tier Editions) Executed By Jeff Black Distributed As Interactive EBook
And he certainly didn't expect to be,
But it isand the new protease inhibitors have kicked in and instead of looking forward to certain death from AIDS, Ed is now looking forward to life.
A life he didn't think he would have,
And now Ed needs to deal with living and all the frustration this brings, His uncaring father has dropped dead in fragrante delicto with another married woman at his assisted living home.
His mother has made a sudden recovery from her near comatose existence, His sister is still as selfish as ever and has left him to deal with the death of their father and the Lazurus like recovery of their mother, and has gone off to Bolivia with her possibly drug dealing husband.
And there are friends from his past popping out of the woodwork like no man's business!!
Ed has lived a life in anticipation of death and who could blame him He has lost a partner to AIDS and another to alcoholism but the death he was expecting fo himself will not now be arriving.
Ed now has all this freedom and opportunity but he has to learn what to do with it.
And to make it worse he has these irritating old school friends to deal with.
Ed finds that not only does he have to deal with living he has to deal with how he lived in the past.
As he reluctantly catches up with the people from his past he finds that he is catching up with himself and hopefully as he regains his hope he will be able to live again.
A bit like his mother who made a miraculous recovery when his father dropped dead.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and funny book about life and being able to deal with the twists and turns and unexpected grace that life sometimes dishes out.
The best thing about this story is the way it is both serious and humorous, Grave and funny. Ed seems to be able to negotiate the most tragic parts of his life with humour and fortitude, and far from knocking him down the
series of unfortunate events that is his life tends instead to build him up.
This is a great book which shows how Ed starts to put one foot in front of the other, slowly in the right direction.
It involves him in getting angry, in letting go and also in allowing life to carry him.
This story is both funny and engaging, and a snap shot which shows Ed coming to understand he now has a future.
It is a great read and a rather touching way of telling the story of the AIDS pandemic.
It has an open end which has left me wanting more but at the same time I feel deeply satisfied and happy I took a chance on a new to me author.
Another book from the Lambda awards for this year, this book is billed as a hysterically funny novel, a quick read, and " what good novels used to be.
" Well, not really. It had a slow start and Jeff Black's attempts at humor fell a bit flat for me, but I ended up really likeing the novel.
It explores the experience of living HIV positive in a very realistic context, The protagonist is a gay man who has a great career but not such a great love life he is still coming to terms with the psychological issues that confront HIV positive gay men who have the chance to live healthy and full lives thanks to new medications.
I like the book because in spite of trying to be funny in places it's really very poignant.
In the end you want Ed to move beyond what is holding him back from genuine intimacy although his journey is a bit trite, the context gives it more meaning.
Ed Dell is gay, single, and confidante to goddess Oprah Winfreyat least in his fertile imagination, He writes for a Chicago newspaper, caretakes his ailing parents, and likes to annoy his snobbish sister.
HIVpositive and very private, Ed has seen better days,
It is, the year of the protease inhibitor,
Sometimes Ed thought of his life in orchestral terms, of what instrument best represented him.
He'd grown up assuming he'd eventually be seated among the upper brass, displaying the zeal and bright assurance of a coronet.
Then he'd age into the warmth and wisdom and emotional depth of a French horn, Yet here he was, forty years old, still stagnating after years in the double reeds, emitting the woeful cries of the English horn, the shrill of the oboe, the bassoon's impending doom.
With the new drugs workingand with Ed's parental obligations miraculously vanishedhe suddenly, surprisingly has the chance to live again.
If only he remembers how,
Then three men from Ed's past reenter his life, and each in his own way instructs Ed in what it means to still be alive:
EnriqueA closeted TV reporter and Ed's exflame
WallaceOnce Ed's best friend, now an AIDS activist and AIDS patient
EliA former friend for whom protease inhibitors came too late Planting Eli is genuine, touching, and very, very funny.
Jeff Black brings gentle hilarity to the challenges of coming back from the dead,
Planting Eli is the last word in resurrection, Ethel Mertz
.