Child of My Right Hand

by Eric K. Goodman and Eric K. Goodman

The stunning third novel from acclaimed author Eric Goodman is the story of a middle class family: college professors Jack and Genna Barish and their two children, fourteen-year-old Lizzy and seventeen-year-old Simon. The four have just moved to Tipton, Ohio, a small town divided by bigotry and class tensions, when Simon announces to his family, and eventually to the town, what his parents have long suspected--that he is gay.

As Jack and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402203063
• ISBN13: 9781402203060
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Looking at the Teen Mind

Goodman, Eric. "Child of My Right Hand", Sourcebooks Landmark, 2004. Looking at the Teen Mind Amos Lassen "Child of My Right Hand" is the story of a middle class family in a small Midwestern town. Jack and Genna Barish, college professors, have moved with their two children, Lizzy (14) and Simon (17) to Tipton, Ohio--a small town which is divided by racial bigotry and class tensions. Simon tells his family that he is gay and his parents are forced to struggle with their son's sexuality and the angst that Simon feels. With Simon's coming out, conflicts are raised in his parents' marriage and other issues -doubt and love, betrayal and sympathy rise to the fore. Even though his parents were not surprised by Simon's announcement, they watch him as he is harassed at school and they have to deal with a cross burning on their front lawn. In the process of dealing with their son, we learn that his maternal grandfather was also gay but he has been absent from the family's life. The Barishes go to San Francisco to meet him and his partner and the trip becomes a turning point in everyone's lives. A sub-theme of the novel is the issue of whether or not homosexuality is hereditary as Jack, the father, researches whether a gay gene would leaf to a rise in the number of abortions. The novel is character driven and Goodman gives us real characters replete with human emotions. Simon is beautifully rendered and we feel his feelings of lust and romance as he matures. The family scenes are also very, very real and wonderfully drawn and we see mutual irritation, rage and love even though the family members do not always get along. We are also made aware that there are family problems caused by the infidelities of the parents and we see that neither really trusts the other and this is further compounded by the issues of their son's homosexuality which they both believe to be genetic. The novel is an honest look at the American family as seen through the complicated relationships. The focus of the story is on Simon and Jack and it is quite complicated but the characters draw us away from the complexities of the plot. It's a beautifully written and emotional book that had me thinking long after I closed the covers.

Stunning

This is a wonderful, stunning story of a family dealing with multiple sexual pressures--the parents' infidelities as well as their teen children's budding sexuality. But the most important part of the book is the character development of the parents but particularly of Simon, their gay son.

Stunning emotionally-rich novel of a family with a gay son

In a novel inspired by the author's own experience with his son's homosexuality, we are invited to share the tentative world of Jack and Genna Barrish, who both teach at small town college in Ohio, where they moved from Cincinnati in hopes that it would be a better atmosphere for their two teenagers. Simon is seventeen and openly gay, and quickly becomes a target of harrassment in the town's lacking school district. Elizabeth (Lizzy) is 14, a budding "goth girl" with a thick skin developed over teasing she receives about her brother. The couple are also hoping for a new beginning following mutual instances of marital infidelity, but neither one completely trusts the other since. Simon's sexuality has also become an issue between them, since they both believe that it is mostly genetic, and Genna never learned the identity of her birth father before her mother's death. Jack, a social science professor, abandons a project on Nazi eugenics to start a study on the biological origins of homosexuality, which Genna resents somewhat as an attempt to "blame" her for Simon's sexuality, and encourages her to find out about her birth father. A memorable family trip to visit Genna's birth father, with a landmark event for young Simon and a reawakening event for his father Jack, highlights the second half of the novel. The family's love for each other is challenged by the continued harrassment at school and at home over Simon, the discovery of Jack's affair with Simon's guidance counselor, the community's reactions to publicity about threats made against the family, possible charges over a sexually-explicit note passed by Simon to a classmate who is a minor, death threats, and Jack's guilt over his real feelings about Simon's sexuality, make for an emotionally-charged, engaging story that explores the heartbreaks and affirmations that can coincide as a family deals with a member's "coming out" to them, and how they must be strong so it does not erode the love they share. With the additional insights about homosexuality, given in the context of the father's research, I'd especially recommend this for educators and parents of gay kids who have accepted them but have some unresolved "issues" they may not have completely worked through.

a great read

I enjoyed reading this novel tremendously. Eric Goodman writes compassionately, with a great deal of psychological insight, humor and eros, about a family, covering not only the story of a boy's coming out in a small prejudiced town but also several other individual dramas in an unpredictable and highly satisfying way. I am a slow reader but I couldn't put this novel down until I was finished. I stayed up all night and yet in the morning I wasn't tired but rather energized by the writer's intelligence.