Closing Distance

Pete is creative, gay, he runs a successful business, but as he approaches forty he faces crises in both his family and his love life. While the novel centres on Pete, the other characters are well developed, and the story progresses mainly through long and interesting dialogues between these various individuals. The tension is maintained to the end, concerning among other things the health of Pete's aging mother, the stability of his brother's marriage, Pete's business prospects, his relationship with his one time lover and now best friend, and particularly the question of his own health, is he HIV positive? This is a warm and enjoyable story, and while not all the questions raised are answered one is left with a positive feeling at the end.

It's interesting to go back and read these books that were written before the mid-nineties and the introduction of protease inhibitors. They are often angry, desperately sad, or hopeless. But this one chooses to focus not on the fear of AIDS, though it's a subtext throughout the book, but how foolish it is to think that any of us are somehow exempt from mortality and illness. While the main character and his family cope with the mother's failing health, and in spite of being adult children, there are still dramas to be played out, choices to be made, lives to be lived. And amidst suffering, love to be discovered--or rediscovered--both familial and romantic--and invited into one's life for nourishment. At times humorous, at times painful, this novel is at heart a balanced look at decent people navigating their way through their daily lives.

How many times have you borrowed a book and then went out to buy it AFTER you read it? This book is a keeper, probably one of the best books of gay fiction I've read. While it was indeed tough to get into the book at first, as one reviewer commented, it was well worth the read. Once past the first few chapters, I wasn't able to put it down. It made me smile, and there were chapters in there (particularly when describing his brother-in-law poolside) that you wondered why it was in the book at all. But, afterward, the payoff was such that you were even tempted to reread these chapters over again, hoping to get the point once more. What I liked about this book was its celebration and acceptance of gay life from various perspectives, all not necessarily gay (for instance, from his Mother's point of view). This book will have you smiling, and wanting to remember particular lines, and jumping for joy. And maybe even give you a few good, happy tears at points. I would most assuredly recommend this book to anyone. A must read!

Closing Distance is one powerful book. Like life itself, it's full of loose ends. It leaves you wanting more. While Oliver's use of the present tense is immediately inviting (reminiscent of the Greek of Mark's Gospel!), Oliver's true gift is in his ability to create characters. His characterization is simply second to none. Unlike so many authors who devote a novel to unfolding one character and giving short shrift to the rest, Oliver in an economy of words is able to introduce us to people who will live with us the rest of our lives. Who, having once met them, can ever forget the likes of LidaJean, Rose and Lennie, Alexa, Anthony, or Bea? And that is to say nothing about Pete, his mom or Bill. Read the book, folks! This man has the GIFT.