The Married Man

THE MARRIED MAN is not only a tribute to Edmund White's lover who died of AIDS. It is also and, perhaps more importantly, a novel of real love and loss and, interestingly enough, in these times of great tragedy and uncertainty in our country and in the world, it is a novel which teaches us that each day must be lived fully.A simple plot: a single, lonely, gay American living in Paris meets and falls in love with another lonely, gay man. To complicate things, the lover is married, nearly half the American's age and claims to be bisexual. The men flee Paris when the American gets a teaching job in Providence, Rhode Island, and from there they run to Key West, Montreal, Venice and Morocco, in search of anything which could prolong their romance and, indeed, the married man's life.As usual with White, the writing is exquisite. THE MARRIED MAN is right there on a par with the best of his books which are, to my mind, the AIDS memoir/novel THE FAREWELL SYMPHONY and the wonderful short stories collected in SKINNED ALIVE. THE MARRIED MAN is heartbreaking and tragic and it is also, at times, very, very funny, almost, indeed, a comedy of gay manners. It is also at its core a tremendously moving, honest, human love story about two courageous men. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Edmund White's gifts as an author are indisputable. Whether he sweeps us along in schlastic AND entertaining bigoraphies(Genet and Proust), explores the tenderness of gay relationships ( The Beautiful Room is Empty, A Boy's Own Story, The Farewell Symphony, etc) or just simply writes a novel like his current "The Married Man", he continues to affirm his gifts of powerful imagery, unique observation of the mundane, and just plain story telling. But I find this current book more than the sum of his gifts; I think we have a powerful parable here that addresses the vulnerability and indomitabilty of the human spirit in times of profound stress. Others have accomplished this in writing about the Great Plague of the Middle Ages, the Holocoaust of the last centtury, the countless wars that have produced some of our best poets ( Wilfrid Owen, Walt Whitman, WH Auden, Siegfried Sassoon, etc....). White draws upon the blight of the AIDS epidemic and its smoldering aftermath to place his characters at the stake and find redemption. This is a splendid love story (stories) that keeps us wondering about the bizarre reasons we choose our "soulmates", our lovers, until the final chapters. A Married Man is more about how we elect to let the world know us, of how we hide who we are - at times even from ourselves. The inevitable disasters that accompany living with a mask are not condemned here, but whispered as an argument for how we survive despite our attempts to be self sufficient. If there is an overlying message in White's opus (and there, in truth, are many in this wise novel!) it is that compassion is our antidote to the inevitablity of death no matter what course our life takes.Whether we have been care givers or care receivers during this time of AIDS, this book will touch even the flintiest reader.

What would we do without Edmund White? All of us who came of age in the seventies and survived. He is our chronicler. This is one of his best books so far. Although the story is quite singular and even ordinary, it resonates deeply with gay lives -- and their contradictions -- everywhere. I disagree with the other reviewers who feel the book is pretentious, and gets lost in its bicultural characters. It is a delicate, sad, wise, and hopeful book.

I'm writing this out of indignation at the spiteful customer review headlined Sick People are Boring Too. Well, what's really boring is people who insist on making mean, highly personal judgments about great literature. Should Ed White's job really be to dumb down his stories so that they don't awaken the envy of readers like the anonymous reader from New York (who just might be a frustated novelist)? Mr. White is one of our finest, most intelligent observers of the social scene and I consider myself lucky each time he publishes more of his wonderful pages.

I was just as transfixed by "The Married Man" as I was by "The Farewell Symphony," Edmumd White's previous novel. Although the two books have much in common, the major difference is that while "Symphony" is a decades-long account of White's life, "The Married Man" covers a briefer period, focusing closely upon his relationship with the French lover he met while living in Paris (who was married when White met him, hence the title).When the main character (let's call him "White") meets the French man, Julien, who will become his lover, we're amused at how White can be so attracted to this quirky architect in his shabby lime-green coat. White likes to dwell on telling details, and his ability to describe these details so perfectly is what makes him a writer of such genius. He depicts Julien with affectionate satire, describing the architect's shabby clothing with the same relish that he describes what he loves about him -- from Julien's handsome looks, his child-like joy in traveling and painting and walking their pet dog Ajax, to the earnestness with which he spins tall tales about his "aristocratic" family. The novel becomes much darker as Julein dies of AIDS. Once you've read the account of Julien's last months, months he spends immersed in his painting, the cover of this novel will make sense to you -- you will be very touched by the depiction of the architect and his dog. The painting on the cover is meaningful because it's just like the paintings Julien does in the novel.In addition to being a funny and sad account of his relationship with Julien, "The Married Man" is generally a fine account of White's years in Paris -- the struggles of fitting in to a foreign culture with limited language skills (making friends, finding an apartment, learning his way around the city). I've always loved the way White is capable of making his life seem so exotic while yet depicting himself as so fallible and human -- he describes his own insecurities with startling clarity. White talks about the nervous care with which he goes about assembling a small group of Parisian friends for dinner parties at his apartment; we see his bumbling attempt to enjoy and succeed in his visiting professor position in Providence, Rhode Island, which ends in embarrasment and minor failure; and finally, we see White confused and frustrated as he travels through Morocco with Julien, while Julien is dying of AIDS, while White desperately tries to help Julien keep his dignity as his body fails; it's painful to read of White's attempts to express his love for Julien during their last days together, when Julien's mind is failing.White's spellbinding ability to capture the subtle nuances of characters and situations is in full flower in this novel, just as it was in "Symphony." In just a sentence or two, White can sketch a character so deftly that you feel as though you know them well. White is a master at capturing the quirks, eccentricit