From the Publisher
White continues his legacy as a pioneer of queer literature with this mesmerizingly erotic tragicomedy.” —Buzzfeed
“The work of Edmund White stands as an unignorable achievement in the past half century of American literature. It is astonishing to see him, in his ninth decade, after more than a dozen novels, writing with such daring and abandon, with the true artist's bracing, vivifying disregard for the stifling canons of good taste. He is one of our living treasures, an inspiration, and a wonder.” —Garth Greenwell, author of CLEANNESS and WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
“Love may be universal, but no one writes about love quite like Edmund White. The veteran author returns with an outrageous, tender novel that complicates contemporary ideas of what traditional, 'appropriate' desires and relationships look like . . . this novel is as mischievous as it is thought-provoking. It is Edmund White at his very best.” —BookPage, Starred Review
“Studded with endless witticisms and brilliant social comedy, this book is likely the most clever and creative pornographic novel ever written by an octogenarian . . . Everything you love about White, explicit sex, French champagne, and insouciant murder included.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Hot, sexual, desirous, and disastrously doomed . . . there is a cinematic plot, a narrative arc, and a scandalous conclusion driving this showstopper, but White's uniquely freaky unrestrained creativity is the main reason to buy a front row seat.” —Bay Area Reporter
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-14
A gay older gentleman’s passion for a handsome ballet dancer assumes mythic proportions, with mythic consequences.
“His mother used to say there were only four good subjects for conversation in a disparate group: very complicated Indian food, a baby, a puppy, or the weather,” recalls Aldwych West early in this narrative of his doomed and desperate passion for 20-year-old August Dupond. There are times in White’s latest when readers might find themselves wishing for a vignette concerning one of these anodyne topics. Studded with endless witticisms and brilliant social comedy, this book is likely the most clever and creative pornographic novel ever written by an octogenarian. No, it’s not all sex—there’s also ballet. August and his female friend Zaza are principal dancers in the New York City Ballet, and both the artistic and business aspects play a role here. Aldwych at first has the impression that French Canadian August is a bit of a dolt, but after the two men become chaste roommates in Aldwych’s spacious apartment, August opens up and speaks eloquently about dancing. Aldwych watches in pain as August takes up with Pablo, then with Ernestine, an evil, shallow dominatrix who is married to Aldwych’s nephew. When Aldwych senses that August is losing interest, he devises a plan to start his own ballet company with his idol at its center—kicking off the most energetic phase of life he’s ever known, complete with a staff and meetings and the possibility that he should stop drinking. (He doesn’t.) Unfortunately, Ernestine’s ruinous schemes are well underway. White has perhaps taken Nijinsky as his model here, whose late career also inspires his main character: “Like a dragonfly who has only fifty days to live, he must do something remarkable with each one, something scandalous, something new.”
Everything you love about White, explicit sex, French champagne, and insouciant murder included.
