Scissors, Paper, Rock

Scissors, Paper, Rock is an unusual novel. On one level it is about dying - from AIDS, cancer, heart failure, war. Death comes in so many different ways, yet it results in loss, both of the deceased and of the memories that lived with that person. Death changes people in unique and complicated ways. Johnson explores this theme with tenderness and grace. He also explores the role of myth in history. Are those things that we know as true really fact, or are they those things that we believe are true because they define who we are. Are our parents really who we believe them to be or is our understanding of them based on the stories that they choose to tell? Does this lessen the power of the stories or lessen the veracity of the story tellers? Johnson very adeptly addresses this theme. Among these deep levels, there is a story of a family in rural Kentucky and their lives together and separately. The characters are well portrayed and the background is very true to life. This is not an easy book, but it is well worth your time.

No other book has ever moved me the way this one did. Picture this: me, 20, working at a mall kiosk on Christmas Eve, and crying as I read this beautiful, moving work. It was not my finest public moment, but the book should not be faulted. The story of Raphael and his difficult relationship with his distant father is one that you can feel. This is the best work of gay-themed fiction that I have ever had the pleasure of owning. It is a must buy!

Author Fenton Johnson tells a moving story peopled with colorful, believable characters. Raphael, the gay son of Tom Hardin, returns home to his dying father. Each chapter is a complete and satisfying story. The stories are told from perspectives of various family members at different points in their lives. The chronology is not linear, engaging the reader's attention in interesting ways. Johnson convincingly presents the emotions of human relations, against the detailed backdrop of one southern family. He transports the reader into the world of a son striving to come to terms with his father before it is too late.