Larry Closs

Review:

When I first picked up this book I honestly had no idea what the Beat Generation was. I had heard of Kerouac's novels and poetry, but had never really read anything he authored; however, after a little research, I was ready to dive into Beatitude, (clever title, beat + attitude). Jay, Harry,and Zahra's everyday lives and complicated relationships are chronicled throughout an emotion-fueled dialogue. What would happen if you found your soul-mate in someone you could never have? The interactions between Harry and Jay describe the depth of this conundrum from the beginnings of an innocent friendship to the eventual depression following unrequited love. I was pulled into the reality of their lives as soon as I "met" them, their characters fully-developed and easy-to-relate to. Everyone has their secret loves, suspicions, and fears, and sometimes those feelings can drive us to our most vulnerable points - this is evidenced in Larry Closs' novel. His writing style captivates the reader, making them a part of the characters' lives. The subplot about Kerouac and the beat generation adds to the overall tone; a welcome and interesting addition to the novel. I definitely saw some parallels between the lifestyles of Kerouac/Ginsberg and the main characters. Beatitude brought a generation that I had never heard of back to life. I would not call this book "gay fiction", it describes more of a deep male-to-male friendship that could possibly become something more, but there is a lot of tension, awkward moments, and envy between the friends. Overall, Beatitude is a well-researched and artfully-written novel about love, obsession, jealousy, and the experiences that make us human. I would have loved a couple more chapters, but hopefully Closs plans to write more in the future. Recommended for fiction aficionados and those interested in the Beat Generation.

Rating: On the Run (4.5/5)

* I received this book from the author (BookShots) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.… (mere)

Beatitude is not a romance but this doesn’t mean is not a love story. It’s the story of two men, Harry and Jay, who become friends thanks to their common love for everything that is “Beat” but above all for Jack Kerouac. Harry is gay and still recovering from a troubled relationship with Matteo; it was an unrequited love, Matteo was fond of Harry but he was not in love with Harry. Despite this past bad experience, Harry seems bent to commit the same mistake with Jay, who has a girlfriend, Zahra. At the beginning I thought I was reading something in Jay, something that could lead to a different ending, but maybe Jay is bisexual and so hypothetically he can love both Harry or Zahra, but since Zahra was the first entering his heart, she is also the one who will detain sole ownership. And as strange as it sounds, I like Zahra, and I don’t mind that Jay is a good man and someone who is able to remain faithful to his decision. And even if Zahra maybe senses that something deeper than friendship is born between Harry and Jay, she will not try to part them, on the contrary she will be the one helping Jay understanding better Harry.

It’s a bittersweet story but not sad; sure, I remain with an open question, will be Harry able to find his soul mate, but maybe it’s a wrong question, since Harry indeed found him in Jay, it’s only that in their relationship, sex is not a necessary ingredient. But aside from that, they share everything else, and they will be also able to achieve most of their dream. By the way, I didn’t feel Harry as someone who is particularly linking sex and love, when he is specifically asked if he wants to have sex with Jay, he is the one to say no, but when the same person asks him if he is in love with Jay he says yes. So maybe, even my first sentence is wrong, this is a romance, only that is a slightly different type of romance I’m not used to. And probably it has to be considered this novel is set in 1995; now I’m not saying it’s old age, but in the end it’s more than 15 years ago and how many things have changed since then? Sure the path is still long but I think it was probably harder in 1995 to admit to someone you are gay than now.

The strange thing is that I would probably not label this novel as “gay” if asked; sure Harry is gay, and he recounts by memory his relationship with Matteo, but truly, his relationship with Jay was more of deep friendship than love. And as in all the really deep friendship, there was jealousy involved, jealousy that you can do something important with someone else, jealousy of the time your best friend is spending with someone else, even if that someone else is a lover or a relative. Jealousy of everyone who came before you and jealousy of everyone who could replace you as “best friend”. Sometime friends are even more demanding than partner, and more sensitive.

Despite the theme, Beatitude is very easy to read, and you arrive to the end with a feeling you would have not minded some page more.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608640299/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (mere)