Vanitas

by Joseph Olshan

Book Overview

The pursuit of Eros, the yearning for intimacy, and the struggle to reconcile bisexuality with a longing for children -- these are the desires etched in the hearts of the characters of this brave and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684833964
• ISBN13: 9780684833965
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

amazingly evocative, a fast but vivid read

I was drawn to this book because I heard that it depicts New Orleans in a few scenes. I have to say that though the author is clearly not from the south, he does evoke the frying-pan heat of New Orleans as well as the heavy atmosphere of foliage and ramshackle city. His London is evocative, too, but I am no judge of this because I don't know that city. His New York is fast-paced and lively. I was very impressed with this book, with its depiction of bisexuality, homosexuality and the desire for gay people to have children. As a fiercely heterosexual woman, I found that all the scenes dealing with the yearnings for children in an alternative lifestyle quite moving and interesting. This is a beautifully written evocative novel. The first of his that I have read. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

LYRICAL AND UNPUTDOWNABLE

I heartily disagree with the latest posted review. This book is very well thought out and is full of many prococative ideas as well as complicated and multi-dimensional characterizations. The author creates a tantalizing situation with several different story lines and brings them together in the end quite elegantly. This book may get some naysayers because it puts forth the idea of bisexuality, which is always an unpopular point of view, one that elicits distrust from both heterosexuals and homosexuals. It also posits the idea that a gay man may want to raise a child with a female partner rather than a male partner. This, too, would probably find much dissent and distrust. And yet, the idea of Vanitas as a symbol of what has happened in the AIDS epidemic is quite original and brilliant, I think. Indeed, there are beautiful descriptions of painting and art througout the novel. Olshan writes sensually and his erotic moments are always romanticized. Although this novel doesn't have many descriptions of lovemaking, in that department he is unparalled. I do agree with some of you who feel that his novel's Clara's Heart and Nightswimmer are probably more powerful, but this book manages to be the most complicated novel he has written and yet it moves forward effortlessly.

A convincing and compelling novel

I was recently traveling in England and saw a review of Olshan's latest novel in the Guardian. I cut it out and then read the book. Vanitas is quite fascinating and compelling reading -- all-in-all an extremely ambitious effort. It demonstrates his abilities both as a story-teller and as a keen observer of human character. I confess that though I thought Vanitas had many brilliant moments that I preferred his previous novel, Nightswimmer. Nightswimmer was less ambitious and yet somehow more crystalized and more lyrical. Still, Vanitas is marvelous reading.