A Novel
By Collin KelleyVanilla Heart Publishing. 255 pages. $14.95.
ISBN-13: 978-1935407294
Review by Helen Losse
First published in Blogcritics
Let’s be upfront: The category on the back of Collin Kelley’s debut novel, Conquering Venus, says “Gay Literary Fiction.” As a heterosexual woman—had I not known Collin, read his insightful political poetry, I might never have picked it up. But I do know Collin, did read the book, and I’m glad I did, for in doing so, I realized something more important than anything else I will say: “Gay Literary Fiction”—or at least Kelley’s Conquering Venus, which constitutes the sum total of books from this category which I have read—concerns itself less with overt sexual acts and more about what it means to be at home in one’s own body. I know why Kelley’s publisher wanted the book labeled “gay,” but I also know that this book has much to interest the heterosexual reader.
Kelley’s characters are multi-dimensional, his plot mature, and while the book is “gay” in detail, the theme and intent are universal: claiming and letting go—accepting responsibility for one’s own actions and refusing to blame one’s self for the actions of others—are psychological tasks or developmental stages that concern us all. Also of interest is the fact that those who speak most openly are no less troubled than those whose fear is evident. Kelley carefully and masterfully creates characters who must deal with the difficult situations in their various pasts—broken marriages, betrayal, sexual confusion and dishonesty, death, suicide, and family acceptance or denial of these—and a plot that draws them together on a trip to Paris.
Shortly after Irene and Martin meet, they “sit on the balcony for hours … discussing art and poetry, dancing around their true selves, the strange desire to confess deep secrets.” (p. 45) But why? Away from the confines of home and with alcohol flowing to remove inhibition, the characters become free to ignore convention. Or are they now free to explore it? Each effect has its cause; then effects become sorely entangled. Dreams play a large roll in the plot of this novel as does the seeming coincidence. Kelley uses italics to help the reader differentiate between live action and dreams. The dead play a roll, too, as a diary of a Parisian professor, hidden in the house Irene that never leaves, gives purpose as to why Martin and the older woman, an agoraphobic who watches through binoculars the goings on at the hotel where the group are staying, come together at all.
The situation in which Peter died leads, at least in part, to Martin’s present attraction to eighteen-year-old David, with the complicated attraction/repulsion David feels in response, and his resulting, problematic drinking. Not all gays are created equal? Well, not everyone’s family is the same. Situations do not lead to pat answers. The truth about Diane leaving her ex-husband comes out, equally confusing. The characters weave their way through the violence of bombings, a hospital’s mental ward, the landmarks in Paris—The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame—and finally home before book’s culmination. The book is a page turner and kept me up ’til 5:00 am, before the story came to a quitting point, where Diane, the burned-out teacher, and her younger friend, Martin—chaperones on a school trip—end up moving separately to Europe, leaving their problematic lives in America.
But Kelley does not end Conquering Venus by wrapping things up in that proverbial neat, little package nor does he leave us in a world we do not believe possible with everyone riding into the sunset. What Kelley does is offer hope as surely as Martin conquers Venus, exchanging the Venus de Milo for the Winged Victory.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
