If you're overly sensitive and/or require romance and happy endings, don't go near this novel. There's nothing "traditional" about the complex love story detailed herein. But if you want to read a superb work of contemporary fiction (not just gay literary fiction, because a novel this exceptional transcends all genre boundaries), grab it up fast. Our craft does not get any better than this. Just make sure to read it while you're alone.
The Brothers Bishop by Bart YatesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I cannot remember the last time a book left me sobbing at the end -- especially one that had me chuckling well past the beginning. The whole day is shot for me. This is a painfully profound and brilliant piece of work, the most affecting I've read since The Madness of a Seduced Woman, and "awarding" it a handful of stars seems both presumptuous and demeaning.
My biggest question is, how did Yates manage to write this without lacerating himself to shreds? Goddamn...
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4 comments:
I've seen really good things about this book on GRs and have been on the fence both because of the subject/lack of HEA and the price (almost $10 for an ebook) but you've tipped me over the edge. I'm heading over to the Sony store now although it may still take a while for me to actually read it. :)
Prepare yourself, Lily! It's one hell of a ride that gets increasingly more intense as it goes on. But this is such an extraordinary read -- crisp writing, fully realized characters and relationships with psycho-emotional depth, wire-tight tension -- that I found it well worth getting through. In fact, I couldn't have put it down unless someone had pried it out of my hands!
Sounds like one I'll need to psych myself up to read - knowing I'm going to be crying at the end...
Chris, it isn't just a m/m romance sniffly little cry, either.
BUT, this author is so good, he didn't end the story in the way most readers probably expected (I included). There is a faint glimmer of hope. It's just that getting there, to those final paragraphs, is a wrenching journey.
BTW, a wonderful, droll sense of humor informs the writing throughout, so this isn't some unrelentingly bleak read.
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