Dog Years

Dennis Denisoff is an intelligent, intuitive writer, and this early work shows tremendous control and confidence. An intelligent, provocative, harrowing work of AIDS literature, set in beautiful Kiev, Ukraine, and in Vancouver, Canada. The similar/contrasting landscapes are an important part of the narrator's negotiation with his identity. He furthermore considers his identity as shaped by his HIV status, nationality, language, and romantic history. Laurie Anderson once famously said "Language is a virus." This is a work obsessed with language, with the spread of culture compared to the spread of HIV. The narrator shares both HIV and language with Larion, both of which change the characters in many ways. The narrator speaks English and Ukrainian with equal facility, and the characters are constantly moving between the two languages as they struggle to reveal and conceal their innermost thoughts and dreams. The pale, wan Larion is like a character from a Mikhael Kuzmin work, shadowy and mysterious, grey eyes almost always brimming with tears. The unfolding global catastrophe of AIDS is set against the backdrop of the Chernobyl disaster, which the author lived through while in the Ukraine in the late 1980s. This engaging, important novel would merit 5 stars but for the self-conscious narratorial intrusions which demonstrate the author's intellectual background but are otherwise unnecessary and disturb the rhythm of the narrative. This is a lovely, gentle novel, as multi-layered as a matrioshka doll, and as intricately-crafted as a pysanka. A recommended read, particularly for afficionados of AIDS literature or Canadian literature.