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Second Son
In a family torn apart by a mother's death and lifelong tensions between the four siblings, the devastating illness of one of the children forces each family member to search for hope and the meaning of love
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 27, 1988
114 people want to read
About the author
Robert Ferro
15 books13 followersAttended Rutgers University and received a Master's Degree from the University of Iowa. Founder of the The Violet Quill literary group with his partner Michael Grumley.
Died of AIDS in 1988 a few months after his partner, Michael Grumley.
Died of AIDS in 1988 a few months after his partner, Michael Grumley.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 22, 2019
Robert Ferro's unceasingly detached and ethereal style seems to be one of the most appropriate voices to tell the story of a man living with AIDS in the midst of his WASP-y family's own derangements. But sadly where his voice lends the story depth and beauty, the lack of cohesion in the story itself leaves much to be desired for readers who desperately want to connect emotionally with the characters at-hand.
"Second Son" tells the story of Mark Valerian, son of a construction magnate and gay man living with AIDS at the beginning of the crisis when living with AIDS was a death sentence with barely even any ways of managing the illness. Revealing his strained relations with his family and his passion for his lover, Bill, a man also infected with HIV, the story does much to reveal just how deeply and badly the disease impacted the relationships with those who are so specifically meant to love us - family remembers refusing to touch you, nurses wearing gloves and masks, and lovers who share the infection providing touch and care in such a deeply needed way.
Sadly, though, the book has many elements that feel out of place and plopped in, leaving the book incoherent and missing a steady narrative thread to draws readers into the emotional journey of the main character. While certainly an important work of AIDS literature, this book alone will leave you wanting more.
"Second Son" tells the story of Mark Valerian, son of a construction magnate and gay man living with AIDS at the beginning of the crisis when living with AIDS was a death sentence with barely even any ways of managing the illness. Revealing his strained relations with his family and his passion for his lover, Bill, a man also infected with HIV, the story does much to reveal just how deeply and badly the disease impacted the relationships with those who are so specifically meant to love us - family remembers refusing to touch you, nurses wearing gloves and masks, and lovers who share the infection providing touch and care in such a deeply needed way.
Sadly, though, the book has many elements that feel out of place and plopped in, leaving the book incoherent and missing a steady narrative thread to draws readers into the emotional journey of the main character. While certainly an important work of AIDS literature, this book alone will leave you wanting more.
May 3, 2022
This book has been provided for free by the publisher. The review below has also been published on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Robert Ferro, whose novel ‘The Blue Star’ I reviewed on this site some time back (http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/book-r...), was part of the famous if short-lived gay male writers’ circle known as The Violet Quill—apart from Ferro and his lover Michael Grumley, it included Christopher Cox, Andrew Holleran, Edmund White, George Whitmore, and Felice Picano (of whose books five reviews can also be found on this site). ‘The Second Son’ was Ferro’s last novel, which he finished in 1988, mere weeks before his death. Another almost forgotten gem ReQueered Tales had the excellent idea of republishing, and certainly one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking books I’ve read these last months. If I wanted to sum up why it should interest today’s readers, I’d say it’s a magnificent novel about a young man who knows he’s dying of AIDS… written by a young man who knows he’s dying of AIDS (literally, as Ferro did succumb to the disease shortly after and had already been forced to bury his lover).
The story’s main character is Mark Valerian, a thirty-something interior designer slash garden artist (in the vaguest of senses). After his mother’s death and after being diagnosed with HIV, he moves into the extensive family beach mansion in Cape May (New Jersey, I think?), where he spends his time taking care of the gardens, overseeing necessary repair works, and welcoming his remaining family members (his father, successful self-made business mogul George, his older brother George Junior, his two sisters, plus aunts, nieces, and one nephew, little George III) whenever they have time to drive over from Philadelphia. This beach mansion becomes somewhat of an obsession to him, all the more so as his father and older brother want to sell it, the sooner the better, a project he resists with all his might. During a professional stay in Rome, Italy, Mark makes the acquaintance of young, well-off Bill, who confesses he’s sick, too. The two young men fall in love and move into the beach mansion together when they return to the US. All seems relatively romantic until Bill has to be hospitalized with a serious bout of pneumonia…
I found this time-travel back to the gruesome late 80s with their thousands upon thousands of deaths in the gay community both heart-breaking and… fascinating? Encouraging? Hard to find the right words, here. In fact, I expected a sombre tale of a young man dying, and I found a forceful, strong story of a young man asking questions, fighting, mulling things over, sometimes despairing, sometimes hoping, but never stopping to live and love. All right, Mark is if not wealthy, at least rich enough not to need to work. He dwells in a fanciful house he loves, he meets a man he learns to love, too, and he can count on the support of some of his siblings. But the story is set at the end of the 80s, where everyone knew that being diagnosed with HIV was a short-term death sentence. So, I was really surprised to notice that Mark’s illness was only one of the subjects of the novel, and that Ferro, despite knowing that he was probably living his last months, was capable of lending so much strength, so much positivity to the characters and to the story.
Like Ferro’s other books, one of the main subjects of this one is the American middle class family and how it turns out to be more a pipe dream than some harmonious reality. A few disruptive elements are enough to make the bubble of that ideal burst and show all the undercurrents and hidden family dynamics in if not a cruel, at least a stark light. Ferro sets to work with a scalpel, not cruelly, but with astonishing insight and honesty, the skilful, energetic writing cutting into the flesh of the characters and laying bare their true selves as well as their aspirations. The first disruption Ferro throws into the Valerian family’s path is Mark’s being gay. Then the mother dies, which is followed simultaneously by Mark announcing his diagnosis and his father finding out his plan of selling the successful family business to a competitor has been called off. Finally, Bill is brought in, and no one can keep up the pretense that all is well any longer. These simple plot developments allow the author to skilfully dissect the interactions of the remaining family members, with the beach house like a shining symbol of what Mark believed to have been their family when everything was still “intact”.
The writing may feel a bit dry or detached from time to time, but I discovered that I was pulled in right from the start and astonished by the often bleak sincerity. As the different characters were shown and analyzed, I started to see them like real persons, not like fictional characters. By the way, one secondary character (Mark’s best friend, who’s living in Florida) reminded me a lot of someone else—I’m not entirely sure but suspect Ferro tried to portray one of his writer friends, Andrew Holleran (I found the similarities between that character and the first-person narrator of Holleran’s upcoming novel, which I’m also currently reading and will soon be reviewing on this site, a bit too blatant to be a coincidence). Anyway, I really recommend ‘Second Son’, not only because it’s part of our cultural heritage and a great example of what is commonly called “AIDS literature”. But also for its literary qualities as well as the wonderful and heart-wrenching love story between Mark and Bill, which, although only being a subplot, was what made the book so beautiful to me (shoot me, I’m a helpless romantic).
Robert Ferro, whose novel ‘The Blue Star’ I reviewed on this site some time back (http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/book-r...), was part of the famous if short-lived gay male writers’ circle known as The Violet Quill—apart from Ferro and his lover Michael Grumley, it included Christopher Cox, Andrew Holleran, Edmund White, George Whitmore, and Felice Picano (of whose books five reviews can also be found on this site). ‘The Second Son’ was Ferro’s last novel, which he finished in 1988, mere weeks before his death. Another almost forgotten gem ReQueered Tales had the excellent idea of republishing, and certainly one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking books I’ve read these last months. If I wanted to sum up why it should interest today’s readers, I’d say it’s a magnificent novel about a young man who knows he’s dying of AIDS… written by a young man who knows he’s dying of AIDS (literally, as Ferro did succumb to the disease shortly after and had already been forced to bury his lover).
The story’s main character is Mark Valerian, a thirty-something interior designer slash garden artist (in the vaguest of senses). After his mother’s death and after being diagnosed with HIV, he moves into the extensive family beach mansion in Cape May (New Jersey, I think?), where he spends his time taking care of the gardens, overseeing necessary repair works, and welcoming his remaining family members (his father, successful self-made business mogul George, his older brother George Junior, his two sisters, plus aunts, nieces, and one nephew, little George III) whenever they have time to drive over from Philadelphia. This beach mansion becomes somewhat of an obsession to him, all the more so as his father and older brother want to sell it, the sooner the better, a project he resists with all his might. During a professional stay in Rome, Italy, Mark makes the acquaintance of young, well-off Bill, who confesses he’s sick, too. The two young men fall in love and move into the beach mansion together when they return to the US. All seems relatively romantic until Bill has to be hospitalized with a serious bout of pneumonia…
I found this time-travel back to the gruesome late 80s with their thousands upon thousands of deaths in the gay community both heart-breaking and… fascinating? Encouraging? Hard to find the right words, here. In fact, I expected a sombre tale of a young man dying, and I found a forceful, strong story of a young man asking questions, fighting, mulling things over, sometimes despairing, sometimes hoping, but never stopping to live and love. All right, Mark is if not wealthy, at least rich enough not to need to work. He dwells in a fanciful house he loves, he meets a man he learns to love, too, and he can count on the support of some of his siblings. But the story is set at the end of the 80s, where everyone knew that being diagnosed with HIV was a short-term death sentence. So, I was really surprised to notice that Mark’s illness was only one of the subjects of the novel, and that Ferro, despite knowing that he was probably living his last months, was capable of lending so much strength, so much positivity to the characters and to the story.
Like Ferro’s other books, one of the main subjects of this one is the American middle class family and how it turns out to be more a pipe dream than some harmonious reality. A few disruptive elements are enough to make the bubble of that ideal burst and show all the undercurrents and hidden family dynamics in if not a cruel, at least a stark light. Ferro sets to work with a scalpel, not cruelly, but with astonishing insight and honesty, the skilful, energetic writing cutting into the flesh of the characters and laying bare their true selves as well as their aspirations. The first disruption Ferro throws into the Valerian family’s path is Mark’s being gay. Then the mother dies, which is followed simultaneously by Mark announcing his diagnosis and his father finding out his plan of selling the successful family business to a competitor has been called off. Finally, Bill is brought in, and no one can keep up the pretense that all is well any longer. These simple plot developments allow the author to skilfully dissect the interactions of the remaining family members, with the beach house like a shining symbol of what Mark believed to have been their family when everything was still “intact”.
The writing may feel a bit dry or detached from time to time, but I discovered that I was pulled in right from the start and astonished by the often bleak sincerity. As the different characters were shown and analyzed, I started to see them like real persons, not like fictional characters. By the way, one secondary character (Mark’s best friend, who’s living in Florida) reminded me a lot of someone else—I’m not entirely sure but suspect Ferro tried to portray one of his writer friends, Andrew Holleran (I found the similarities between that character and the first-person narrator of Holleran’s upcoming novel, which I’m also currently reading and will soon be reviewing on this site, a bit too blatant to be a coincidence). Anyway, I really recommend ‘Second Son’, not only because it’s part of our cultural heritage and a great example of what is commonly called “AIDS literature”. But also for its literary qualities as well as the wonderful and heart-wrenching love story between Mark and Bill, which, although only being a subplot, was what made the book so beautiful to me (shoot me, I’m a helpless romantic).
August 20, 2015
I picked this up at random and read it to pass the time. It took me a minute, but I realized after a few chapters just what we were talking about and what disease was slowly killing them. Looking at the date, I now realized why it was spoken of in euphemisms.
While it doesn't have much of a moving plot, there is a struggle. And I believe it's the struggle against despair. When caught in a situation such as these men, the struggle against despair is everything. And everything around either helps those in it rise above the struggle or serves to bury them in that struggle.
The book is about two men trying to hold onto hope even as the disease inside them eats away at them.
While it doesn't have much of a moving plot, there is a struggle. And I believe it's the struggle against despair. When caught in a situation such as these men, the struggle against despair is everything. And everything around either helps those in it rise above the struggle or serves to bury them in that struggle.
The book is about two men trying to hold onto hope even as the disease inside them eats away at them.
January 24, 2020
Obviously not as “fun” as the rest of his books, Ferro’s literary swan song is still full of beautiful images, feeding me personally and moving me.
It’s incredible how he even wrote that while being ill himself, taking care of his legacy instead of simply giving up.
5 stars just for that. Oh, and to make up for all the critics out there who are stingy with their stars. I mean.. why?
Now I’m out of Robert Ferro and simply too sad.
“If only there was more”
It’s incredible how he even wrote that while being ill himself, taking care of his legacy instead of simply giving up.
5 stars just for that. Oh, and to make up for all the critics out there who are stingy with their stars. I mean.. why?
Now I’m out of Robert Ferro and simply too sad.
“If only there was more”
July 1, 2018
Like a thickly woven yet carefully tended garden, Ferro's last novel weaves the Valerian family and their second son, Mark, who is ill with 'the disease.' While AIDS is never named outright, his illness becomes part of his story, while his family's struggle to maintain a beach house involves much of the narration as well. It's at times poetic, other times delicate and a bit precious in descriptions.
I found the multiple family characters a bit confusing, as scenes are written mostly in a third person voice without fully dramatized scenes. Mark's visit to an almost desolate Rome as a cloud of Chernobyl nuclear waste sweeps over Europe is brightened by a set up meeting with Bill. Mark's pen pal Matthew, an eccentric writer in Florida has played matchmaker, and the two men connect and travel through Venice, while enduring not only the unnamed disease, but by sharing a sense of kinship and tenderness.
Their time together at Bill's family lake house offers more respite in this intimately told story. The general world is kept outside, until Mark's father, facing financial collapse, pressures the family to agree to sell the beach house, which means much more to Mark, as a memory of his deceased mother.
A final confrontation is more clearly played out in arguments and Mark's near-collapse. Although a spiritual outer space quest from Matthew offers a stellar afterlife of sorts, that we, the reader in hindsight, know this was the last work by author Ferro, leaves a sad end note.
I found the multiple family characters a bit confusing, as scenes are written mostly in a third person voice without fully dramatized scenes. Mark's visit to an almost desolate Rome as a cloud of Chernobyl nuclear waste sweeps over Europe is brightened by a set up meeting with Bill. Mark's pen pal Matthew, an eccentric writer in Florida has played matchmaker, and the two men connect and travel through Venice, while enduring not only the unnamed disease, but by sharing a sense of kinship and tenderness.
Their time together at Bill's family lake house offers more respite in this intimately told story. The general world is kept outside, until Mark's father, facing financial collapse, pressures the family to agree to sell the beach house, which means much more to Mark, as a memory of his deceased mother.
A final confrontation is more clearly played out in arguments and Mark's near-collapse. Although a spiritual outer space quest from Matthew offers a stellar afterlife of sorts, that we, the reader in hindsight, know this was the last work by author Ferro, leaves a sad end note.
February 5, 2025
This was a hard book to read -- unexpectedly so. I knew this was a book about AIDS written at the height of the epidemic, so I was prepared to feel depressed by the book, but I was not. If anything, I felt a great dislike for most of the characters except for the two principal ones . . . Mark and Bill, both of whom are gay men with AIDS.
I found much of the book rather boring. Ferro goes into great length setting scenes with what I found to be unnecessarily detailed descriptions. Did the colors of the house in Cape May require such detail? The terrace in Rome? The lake house in Massachusetts? I found myself bogged down in these sections, wondering if the story was worth continuing.
What was most fascinating to me were the scenes where Mark's family is interacting. These felt very real and are what kept me continuing to read the book. As a gay man who was estranged from his father for most of my life, I identified with the relationship between Mark and his father, though I felt their last scene together a bit unrealistic.
All in all, I am glad I read the book, though I am hesitant to recommend it to other.
I found much of the book rather boring. Ferro goes into great length setting scenes with what I found to be unnecessarily detailed descriptions. Did the colors of the house in Cape May require such detail? The terrace in Rome? The lake house in Massachusetts? I found myself bogged down in these sections, wondering if the story was worth continuing.
What was most fascinating to me were the scenes where Mark's family is interacting. These felt very real and are what kept me continuing to read the book. As a gay man who was estranged from his father for most of my life, I identified with the relationship between Mark and his father, though I felt their last scene together a bit unrealistic.
All in all, I am glad I read the book, though I am hesitant to recommend it to other.
February 23, 2014
The story was enough to continue further but i just did not feel connected with the main character. I liked how Aids is highlighted in the 80 or 90 . i Think it the setting is from that time period
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews