Able Was I

by Drew Banks

In the summer of 1985, on a post-collegiate adventure to Europe, Grey Tigrett’s meticulously planned trip is derailed by an argument with an uninvited guest who threatens to ruin the trip. On the subsequent ferry ride to an unplanned destination, he waxes poetically in his journal to calm himself down.

"Before I saw Elba, there was nothing but sea and sky. Then it appeared, small on the horizon, an insignificant fleck just below the vanishing point. On the water, perspectives are not forged from hard angles. No perfect square is centered upon the edge of the sea. The imminence is the same, yet the path, variable. Nascent and amorphous, the island bobs up, down, right and left as the boat stays its course."

Fourteen years later, Grey Tigrett is still adrift. To escape the emotional impotency of both his past and present, he has again retreated to the exile of his dreamy, analytic mind. On the eve of the new millennium, three pivotal events shatter Grey s asylum and lead him to discover whether his life-altering experiences on Elba were his downfall or will be what finally sets him free.

Able Was I is not a typical LGBTQ+ coming-of-age novel, rather it explores the lifelong yearning to relive the intensity of one’s coming of age and recapture the possibility lost in the years since.

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2005

About the author

Drew Banks is a retired entrepreneur, business author, and novelist. In his business writing as well as fiction, Drew deconstructs behavioral patterns in an attempt to explore psychological motivations and deterrents. While Drew's business books examine organizational implications of various social psychologies, he is drawn to fiction—where he is now focused—as a more intimate medium for delving beneath the surface of an individual.

Drew's Elba Trilogy consists of three independent novels—ABLE WAS I, ERE I SAW ELBA, and coming soon, I BEFORE E—all dealing with the issue of exile, physical and emotional, with the protagonist of each (as well as some ancillary characters) woven throughout.

WUNC Interview: Able Was I
https://tinyurl.com/4s4y6e6k

WUNC Interview: Ere I Saw Elba
https://tinyurl.com/xe883h43

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Able Was I by Drew Banks is one of those books that sneaks up on you with its depth. Starting with a life-changing experience on Elba in 1985—the way Banks writes about Grey’s struggles feels real and made me reflect alongside the character. The settings, especially New York and Italy almost feel like characters themselves. It’s not overly dramatic or heavy-handed, which I really appreciated. If you’re into stories that make you reflect on your own choices and where they’ve led you, this is a great pick.

[Kensmith662comcast.Net · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the ride with Grey, partly because I identified so much with the confusion and yearning of his quest for a life that is raw, true, and in the present. Seeking to escape his ghosts and his ideas of what "should be," Grey's cathartic adventure became my own. What more can one ask from a book?

It's a introspective read that is engaging and paced such that I whipped through it. It's a wonderful, well-crafted novel -- and impressive that it's the author's first one.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the deeply human portrayal of Grey's journey—one that feels both personal and universal. From his transformative summer on the Italian island of Elba to his disenchanted but comfortable life in New York City, this story is a beautiful meditation on identity, longing, and the elusive nature of happiness. The writing is evocative and the settings transport you.

[Leslie Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just reread this after many years. It's a beautiful story with characters and situations that everyone can recognize and relate to. With fantastic depictions of two of my favorite places (NYC and Italy), it's a beautiful and thoughtful story. Highly recommend!

[Steve Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read into the wee hours of the morning today because I could not put down this book. Mr. Banks's writing is so engrossing; I ditched the idea to describe it as captivating, as that evokes a frivilous quality found so often in gay fiction, but which is refreshingly absent in "Able Was I". There was none of the cynical underbelly found in Stephen McCauley's work, none of the bitchy repartee reminiscent of the movie Priscilla, and no gratuitous graphic sex scenes to keep the reader titillated. In their place was an amazingly profound journey of a man searching for his path in life. Grey is a character with a sense of direction and purpose, but his compass is spinning wildly out of control. It was amazing to read his interactions with the other characters in the book, and to really, really experience those emotions as well. The tenuousness of innuendo, the mystery of truncated bits of information, the tenderness and passion - rather than animal sex - infused a credibility in the story that is rare in writing.

Lest I seem a bit too complimentary, I did have a couple small problems with some conversational language near the end, and the cover photo far too closely resembled cover shots on recently released books "At Swim, Two Boys" and "Back Where He Started". It made me erroeously think that perhaps this wasn't as original as it was.

But it IS original, and wonderfully written.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man comes of age, discovering more and more about himself, both his sexuality and his relationships in the world. I especially appreciated the vivid descriptions of Elba and NYC. Long after reading it, its places are still vivid: the hotel, the rowboat, the apartment, the house. I felt like I was really transported. I also liked the themes of isolation and the choices that Grey finds himself making throughout the course of the book.