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Conquering Venus
In the summer of 1995, young American writer Martin Paige agrees to chaperone a group of high school seniors on their graduation trip to Paris as a favor to his best friend, teacher Diane Jacobs. Diane hopes Europe will act as a catalyst to lift Martin from his grief following the suicide of his lover, Peter. But the trip proves to be more than either of them bargained for. Martin finds himself falling in love with one of her students, David McLaren, who is unprepared to cope with his burgeoning sexuality. He also meets a mysterious Parisian woman, Irene Laureaux, who is debilitated by agoraphobia and spends her days spying on the hotel guests across from her apartment. Martin and Irene discover they have a logic-defying connection: a small tribal tattoo on their left hands that means equal but opposite. This is same tattoo that Martin s lover and Irene's husband had inked into their skin. All the characters lives are irrevocably changed in a horrifying terrorist attack on a Paris metro station. Liberated by the blast, forced from her own self-imprisonment, Irene learns her husband's death was not an accident, and dares Martin to acknowledge the role he played in Peter's suicide. Diane, harboring her own secrets and a hidden agenda, takes a drastic step to force David out of the closet and admit his feelings for Martin. From America to England to France, the globe-hopping story places fictional characters amidst historical events such as the Nazi occupation of Paris, the student/worker riots of 1968 and the terrorist bombings of Paris in 1995. Grounded in reality, Conquering Venus is a mystery, a love story and a journey of self-realization.
260 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2009
204 people want to read
About the author
Collin Kelley
25 books84 followersCollin Kelley is the author of Wonder & Wreckage: New & Selected Poems, 1993-2023 (Poetry Atlanta Press). His other collections include Midnight in a Perfect World (Sibling Rivalry Press), Better To Travel (Poetry Atlanta Press), Slow To Burn (Seven Kitchens Press), After the Poison (Finishing Line Press) and Render (Sibling Rivalry Press), chosen by the American Library Association for its 2014 Over the Rainbow Book List. Kelley is also the author of The Venus Trilogy of novels – Conquering Venus, Remain In Light and Leaving Paris – also published by Sibling Rivalry Press. Remain In Light was the runner-up for the 2013 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Fiction and a 2012 finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. He is also the author of the short story collection, Kiss Shot (Amazon Kindle Exclusive). Kelley’s poetry, reviews, essays and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 27, 2011
Set mostly in Paris in 1995. Martin is a man of 22 who's been coerced by Diane his best gal-pal to serve as a co chaperone for a small group of high-school graduates from Tennessee on their trip to London and Paris. While he's somewhat into the idea of a trip abroad the real draw for Martin is one of the graduates, 18 year-old David. A natural athlete and leader who drinks too much and seems to be forever taunting Martin in a flirtatious way.
This is not a straightforward story and as the plot unfolds we learn more about Martin and Diane and we meet the agoraphobic Irene who has a story of her own to tell.
This story is presented as a mystery and in that vein the facts are not all clearly spelled out until the closing chapters but then... that's sort of how life works.
The prose is well written, the scenes are vividly drawn and the characters and events are compelling. Overall a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
This is not a straightforward story and as the plot unfolds we learn more about Martin and Diane and we meet the agoraphobic Irene who has a story of her own to tell.
This story is presented as a mystery and in that vein the facts are not all clearly spelled out until the closing chapters but then... that's sort of how life works.
The prose is well written, the scenes are vividly drawn and the characters and events are compelling. Overall a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
October 28, 2009
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
As I've said here many times before, I believe that for a novel to be a truly great one, it must successfully combine three essential elements -- it must have an exciting and logical plot, populated by realistic and compelling characters, written in a competent and unique style. But of course the irony of this is that these three elements aren't even slightly equal when it comes to importance; that for a novel merely to be readable, all it really requires is a reasonable storyline and a lack of grammatical errors, and only then does one need to worry about adding intriguing and complex characters to the mix. (In fact, as those who have done their homework know, the emphasis on character development came rather late in the history of the novel, mostly the result of the academic community getting more and more involved with the format starting in the early 20th century, and is actually the issue that most informs the debate between so-called "mainstream" fiction versus "genre" literature; the latter is accused of concentrating too much on plot to the detriment of character, while the former is accused of the exact opposite.) And thus is the literary world filled with a plethora of novels by beginning authors that least aren't terrible, in that they've at least conquered the challenges of the three-act story and "proper English;" but neither are they truly compelling, because of the lack of emphasis on truly compelling characters, that complicated and oh-so-elusive detail that has been plaguing writers for centuries.
Take for example the new Conquering Venus, the small-press novel debut of multiple Pushcart nominee Collin Kelley, a past nominee as well of the prestigious Lambda gay literary award for his popular poetry. Because the fact is that the story fueling this book is a pretty great one indeed, a smart and original idea that made me excited to read it -- it's the story of two youngish Memphis hipsters who are hired to escort a group of high-schoolers on their senior trip to Paris, one of whom is a gay man only in his early twenties himself and already a widow (because of his previous partner committing suicide), and who slowly starts falling in love with one of the high-schoolers he's in charge of, through a series of intense and sexually charged situations there in that most romantic of all European cities. And in the meanwhile, this man also ends up befriending a sixty-something female shut-in ingenue who lives across the street from the hotel where the group is staying, a childhood Nazi survivor and fellow widow whose politically radical husband was killed during the student riots there of 1968, who just so happens to have the same exact tattoo as the American located at the same exact part of the body (an "everlasting love" symbol at the base of their thumbs, both of which were originally done in conjunction with their now-dead partners), the two of whom have also been having a series of magical-realism dreams about the other in the weeks leading up to the trip, and who become convinced that they are fated to help each other work through their respective loss and pain.
And that's the main thing I want to emphasize today, that when it comes to all that, Kelley does quite a nice job, turning in a tidy story that was obviously well thought out and thoroughly researched; not only does it have a tight internal logic but also presents the city in a highly realistic and evocative way, and with lots of real-feeling details about the calamitous days there in the late '60s that this youngish author obviously couldn't have directly experienced himself. And that's why Conquering Venus gets at least a decent score today, and a full write-up instead of a one-paragraph brushoff, because it deserves such a thing, and it deserves to find the audience who will enjoy this book just for these elements alone. So what a disappointment, then, to read through the novel and realize that it's the characters themselves who are wildly inconsistent, changing profoundly in their nature from scene to scene depending on what Kelley specifically needs to have happen in that scene for his elaborate storyline to hold together; it's what stops this merely okay novel from being a truly great one, a disappointment even more bitter than normal because of him otherwise coming so close to getting everything so right.
Take for example the character Diane, the middle-aged teacher who is the catalyst behind the entire trip, and who is the one to eventually invite her gay non-teaching friend Martin along to be her co-escort: because as she exists within Conquering Venus, she is sometimes seen as a with-it urban Jew who of course has young gay friends and who of course would be thought of as the perfect escort for a bunch of rowdy teens on a trip to the EU, while at other times she comes off as a judgmental, schoolmarmish shrew, reacting like a xenophobic grandmother to the very idea of one of the students getting a tongue-piercing during the trip. Like I said, this is one of the intermediate lessons of novel-writing, learned only after first mastering the basics but still as important as anything else; that for a novel to be truly great, an author must first create a series of airtight characters with an unbreakable consistency to their behavior and ethics, and only then create a compelling three-act story that logically fits around these consistent characters, with the plot itself needing to be changed when clashing with the natural action any particular person in it would take in any particular situation, not the other way around. And unfortunately, this is a problem found again and again throughout the entire manuscript, of characters reacting to situations in radically different ways based on what needs to happen at that particular moment in order for Kelley's plot to hold together -- just to cite one more example, the fact that our ingenue Irene is so agoraphobic that she literally passes out when walking out the front door of her building, yet has absolutely no problem lounging around for hours on her open-roofed balcony thirty feet directly above this front door, an element of the story absolutely necessary under Kelley's plotting in order for her and Martin to meet in the first place.
And then this isn't even taking into consideration the much bigger problem with these characters, which is that I didn't find a single one of them to ultimately be sympathetic; because when all is said and done, of the three main characters who make up this book, one is essentially a horrible little monster to virtually every person she meets, another is constantly trying to get a series of manual laborers fired for not catering to her every mentally-imbalanced whim, while the third apparently sees no problem with aggressively pursuing a gay sexual relationship with a confused closeted jailbait alcoholic teenager, an aspect that will be even more troubling to others depending on who they are. And again, this is not to say that a novel needs to be populated with selfless heroes in order to be a success, nor that characters aren't allowed to make mistakes or even sometimes come across as villainous; but in order for a traditional three-act story to work (and make no mistake, this is a traditional three-act story), we need to be able to at least root for the characters at the center of it all, at least not actively despise them and to be cheering for their failure. And unfortunately, this is exactly where I found myself by the end of Conquering Venus, actively hoping that Martin would just finally leave that poor wino closeted kid alone already, and wondering why he would be friends with such an irredeemable c-nt like Diane in the first place.
It's for all these reasons that today Conquering Venus gets only a limited recommendation from me; like I said, there's definitely an audience out there who will like this quite a bit, precisely as mentioned because a novel doesn't need to master characterization in order to be at least okay, only storyline and grammar which this one does, although those expecting more from their full-length fiction will unfortunately be disappointed. In any case, it is for sure a better-than-normal first novel, one that Kelley should be proud of for the things it gets right; now it's time for him to hunker down and work on the complicated advanced issues that come with the novel-writing process, before turning in his second.
Out of 10: 7.9
As I've said here many times before, I believe that for a novel to be a truly great one, it must successfully combine three essential elements -- it must have an exciting and logical plot, populated by realistic and compelling characters, written in a competent and unique style. But of course the irony of this is that these three elements aren't even slightly equal when it comes to importance; that for a novel merely to be readable, all it really requires is a reasonable storyline and a lack of grammatical errors, and only then does one need to worry about adding intriguing and complex characters to the mix. (In fact, as those who have done their homework know, the emphasis on character development came rather late in the history of the novel, mostly the result of the academic community getting more and more involved with the format starting in the early 20th century, and is actually the issue that most informs the debate between so-called "mainstream" fiction versus "genre" literature; the latter is accused of concentrating too much on plot to the detriment of character, while the former is accused of the exact opposite.) And thus is the literary world filled with a plethora of novels by beginning authors that least aren't terrible, in that they've at least conquered the challenges of the three-act story and "proper English;" but neither are they truly compelling, because of the lack of emphasis on truly compelling characters, that complicated and oh-so-elusive detail that has been plaguing writers for centuries.
Take for example the new Conquering Venus, the small-press novel debut of multiple Pushcart nominee Collin Kelley, a past nominee as well of the prestigious Lambda gay literary award for his popular poetry. Because the fact is that the story fueling this book is a pretty great one indeed, a smart and original idea that made me excited to read it -- it's the story of two youngish Memphis hipsters who are hired to escort a group of high-schoolers on their senior trip to Paris, one of whom is a gay man only in his early twenties himself and already a widow (because of his previous partner committing suicide), and who slowly starts falling in love with one of the high-schoolers he's in charge of, through a series of intense and sexually charged situations there in that most romantic of all European cities. And in the meanwhile, this man also ends up befriending a sixty-something female shut-in ingenue who lives across the street from the hotel where the group is staying, a childhood Nazi survivor and fellow widow whose politically radical husband was killed during the student riots there of 1968, who just so happens to have the same exact tattoo as the American located at the same exact part of the body (an "everlasting love" symbol at the base of their thumbs, both of which were originally done in conjunction with their now-dead partners), the two of whom have also been having a series of magical-realism dreams about the other in the weeks leading up to the trip, and who become convinced that they are fated to help each other work through their respective loss and pain.
And that's the main thing I want to emphasize today, that when it comes to all that, Kelley does quite a nice job, turning in a tidy story that was obviously well thought out and thoroughly researched; not only does it have a tight internal logic but also presents the city in a highly realistic and evocative way, and with lots of real-feeling details about the calamitous days there in the late '60s that this youngish author obviously couldn't have directly experienced himself. And that's why Conquering Venus gets at least a decent score today, and a full write-up instead of a one-paragraph brushoff, because it deserves such a thing, and it deserves to find the audience who will enjoy this book just for these elements alone. So what a disappointment, then, to read through the novel and realize that it's the characters themselves who are wildly inconsistent, changing profoundly in their nature from scene to scene depending on what Kelley specifically needs to have happen in that scene for his elaborate storyline to hold together; it's what stops this merely okay novel from being a truly great one, a disappointment even more bitter than normal because of him otherwise coming so close to getting everything so right.
Take for example the character Diane, the middle-aged teacher who is the catalyst behind the entire trip, and who is the one to eventually invite her gay non-teaching friend Martin along to be her co-escort: because as she exists within Conquering Venus, she is sometimes seen as a with-it urban Jew who of course has young gay friends and who of course would be thought of as the perfect escort for a bunch of rowdy teens on a trip to the EU, while at other times she comes off as a judgmental, schoolmarmish shrew, reacting like a xenophobic grandmother to the very idea of one of the students getting a tongue-piercing during the trip. Like I said, this is one of the intermediate lessons of novel-writing, learned only after first mastering the basics but still as important as anything else; that for a novel to be truly great, an author must first create a series of airtight characters with an unbreakable consistency to their behavior and ethics, and only then create a compelling three-act story that logically fits around these consistent characters, with the plot itself needing to be changed when clashing with the natural action any particular person in it would take in any particular situation, not the other way around. And unfortunately, this is a problem found again and again throughout the entire manuscript, of characters reacting to situations in radically different ways based on what needs to happen at that particular moment in order for Kelley's plot to hold together -- just to cite one more example, the fact that our ingenue Irene is so agoraphobic that she literally passes out when walking out the front door of her building, yet has absolutely no problem lounging around for hours on her open-roofed balcony thirty feet directly above this front door, an element of the story absolutely necessary under Kelley's plotting in order for her and Martin to meet in the first place.
And then this isn't even taking into consideration the much bigger problem with these characters, which is that I didn't find a single one of them to ultimately be sympathetic; because when all is said and done, of the three main characters who make up this book, one is essentially a horrible little monster to virtually every person she meets, another is constantly trying to get a series of manual laborers fired for not catering to her every mentally-imbalanced whim, while the third apparently sees no problem with aggressively pursuing a gay sexual relationship with a confused closeted jailbait alcoholic teenager, an aspect that will be even more troubling to others depending on who they are. And again, this is not to say that a novel needs to be populated with selfless heroes in order to be a success, nor that characters aren't allowed to make mistakes or even sometimes come across as villainous; but in order for a traditional three-act story to work (and make no mistake, this is a traditional three-act story), we need to be able to at least root for the characters at the center of it all, at least not actively despise them and to be cheering for their failure. And unfortunately, this is exactly where I found myself by the end of Conquering Venus, actively hoping that Martin would just finally leave that poor wino closeted kid alone already, and wondering why he would be friends with such an irredeemable c-nt like Diane in the first place.
It's for all these reasons that today Conquering Venus gets only a limited recommendation from me; like I said, there's definitely an audience out there who will like this quite a bit, precisely as mentioned because a novel doesn't need to master characterization in order to be at least okay, only storyline and grammar which this one does, although those expecting more from their full-length fiction will unfortunately be disappointed. In any case, it is for sure a better-than-normal first novel, one that Kelley should be proud of for the things it gets right; now it's time for him to hunker down and work on the complicated advanced issues that come with the novel-writing process, before turning in his second.
Out of 10: 7.9
April 14, 2010
Recommended by Ben Tanzer
From author.
Have you ever read a couple of books, one after the other, only to find that they are unintentionally linked to one another through subject matter and theme? Perhaps a character from your previous read has a similar affliction to the one you are reading about now. Or the characters visit the same locations. Maybe they have similar backgrounds and histories?
I love "book serendipity", and how utterly random and jarring it can be. And that is exactly what occurred while I was reading Collin Kelley's "Conquering Venus".
Prior to reading his novel, I had just completed Jeannette Katzir's "Broken Birds" (A story of Holocaust survivors and their family struggles), and a few before that - I was reading D.R. Haney's "Banned for Life" (A story that contained a character who suffers from Agoraphobia).
Not far into "Conquering Venus", we are introduced to Diane - an American teacher whose parents were Holocaust survivors. Though she is not very religious, we are reminded of her Jewish background and of the impact Nazi Germany had on her family life. Of course, this is not the main theme of the novel, but just one of those strange little coincidences that I enjoy stumbling across.
When we are introduced to Irene, we learn that she is suffering from the crippling, imprisoning fear of the outdoors - Agoraphobia. This is an important character flaw, as a significant portion of the novel hinges on Irene and her inability to leave her apartment. She mirrors a character by the name of Jim from "Banned For Life", who is also unable to leave his home due to the same fear.
While this has nothing to do with the review of Kelley's novel, I had to point out the sheer coincidence of reading books nearly back to back that were sent to me by the authors for review - and which were read in the order they arrived on my doorstep - and just how serendipitous it was.
"Conquering Venus" is an ambitious first novel that is quoted to be "grounded in reality...a mystery, a love story, and a journey of self-realization". It centers around Martin, a young American gay man, who is haunted by his ex-lover's suicide. It also centers on Irene, a much older Parisian woman afflicted with a debilitating fear of the outdoors, who is unable to move beyond the death of her husband. Both suffer from highly disturbing, foreboding, foreshadowing dreams of their lost loves, and - strangely - of each other.
Martin's best friend Diane is chaperoning a group of graduating teens on a trip to Paris, and she invites Martin along - hoping it will help him move past Peter's suicide. While in Paris, as Martin pines over David, one of Diane's students, Martin meets Irene, and they feel an immediate and startling connection.
Initially unknown to them all, Martin, Diane, and Irene share eerily similar pasts.
They are the keys that unlock each others secrets. Forced to face their pasts in order to truly live in the present, they extinguish their inner demons together, and aid the healing of old wounds.
Collin Kelley tackles heavy topics - what it is like to deal with the pressures and perceptions of being a gay man in today society, how we as humans deal with death, and the idea of having a soul mate or "familiar" from another life. Kelley uses dreams to capture just how deeply scarred his characters are, helping the reader to see into their past and to peek into their future.
Overall, an intense look at a world of which I was not overly familiar with. While I don't have much experience with Gay Lit, I do have a TON of experience with reading in general, and Kelley can certainly hold his own with the best of them.
Collin has quite a few collections of poetry, of which I am most definitely going to get my hands on, and is also the recipient of the 1994 Deep South Festival of Writer's Award for Best Play "Dark Horse". I have heard it mentioned that Collin is working on a sequel to "Conquering Venus". I would be very interested to see where he takes Martin and Irene next.
From author.
Have you ever read a couple of books, one after the other, only to find that they are unintentionally linked to one another through subject matter and theme? Perhaps a character from your previous read has a similar affliction to the one you are reading about now. Or the characters visit the same locations. Maybe they have similar backgrounds and histories?
I love "book serendipity", and how utterly random and jarring it can be. And that is exactly what occurred while I was reading Collin Kelley's "Conquering Venus".
Prior to reading his novel, I had just completed Jeannette Katzir's "Broken Birds" (A story of Holocaust survivors and their family struggles), and a few before that - I was reading D.R. Haney's "Banned for Life" (A story that contained a character who suffers from Agoraphobia).
Not far into "Conquering Venus", we are introduced to Diane - an American teacher whose parents were Holocaust survivors. Though she is not very religious, we are reminded of her Jewish background and of the impact Nazi Germany had on her family life. Of course, this is not the main theme of the novel, but just one of those strange little coincidences that I enjoy stumbling across.
When we are introduced to Irene, we learn that she is suffering from the crippling, imprisoning fear of the outdoors - Agoraphobia. This is an important character flaw, as a significant portion of the novel hinges on Irene and her inability to leave her apartment. She mirrors a character by the name of Jim from "Banned For Life", who is also unable to leave his home due to the same fear.
While this has nothing to do with the review of Kelley's novel, I had to point out the sheer coincidence of reading books nearly back to back that were sent to me by the authors for review - and which were read in the order they arrived on my doorstep - and just how serendipitous it was.
"Conquering Venus" is an ambitious first novel that is quoted to be "grounded in reality...a mystery, a love story, and a journey of self-realization". It centers around Martin, a young American gay man, who is haunted by his ex-lover's suicide. It also centers on Irene, a much older Parisian woman afflicted with a debilitating fear of the outdoors, who is unable to move beyond the death of her husband. Both suffer from highly disturbing, foreboding, foreshadowing dreams of their lost loves, and - strangely - of each other.
Martin's best friend Diane is chaperoning a group of graduating teens on a trip to Paris, and she invites Martin along - hoping it will help him move past Peter's suicide. While in Paris, as Martin pines over David, one of Diane's students, Martin meets Irene, and they feel an immediate and startling connection.
Initially unknown to them all, Martin, Diane, and Irene share eerily similar pasts.
They are the keys that unlock each others secrets. Forced to face their pasts in order to truly live in the present, they extinguish their inner demons together, and aid the healing of old wounds.
Collin Kelley tackles heavy topics - what it is like to deal with the pressures and perceptions of being a gay man in today society, how we as humans deal with death, and the idea of having a soul mate or "familiar" from another life. Kelley uses dreams to capture just how deeply scarred his characters are, helping the reader to see into their past and to peek into their future.
Overall, an intense look at a world of which I was not overly familiar with. While I don't have much experience with Gay Lit, I do have a TON of experience with reading in general, and Kelley can certainly hold his own with the best of them.
Collin has quite a few collections of poetry, of which I am most definitely going to get my hands on, and is also the recipient of the 1994 Deep South Festival of Writer's Award for Best Play "Dark Horse". I have heard it mentioned that Collin is working on a sequel to "Conquering Venus". I would be very interested to see where he takes Martin and Irene next.
Read
August 2, 2011there's no doubt that collin kelley can write - i have been a fan of his poetry for quite a while. i don't think i would have come across the novel if collin weren't an internet acquaintance of mine (i doubt they are stocking it in [m]any austrian book shops). had i seen it in a book shop, i am almost certain that i would not have bought it - and that is NOT due to the synopsis on the back, but the fact that there are two mistakes (one grammatical, one omission), and i can easily be turned off by careless editing (e.g. in a book set partly in paris, editors should make sure that "montmartre" is spelled correctly). the story itself is certainly interesting, capturing, imaginative, and well written. one thing that i am a bit wary of is the device of dreams in novels – i think there can be too many of them. as far as the characters go, i find they are well-developed, although i think that martin just seems all too mature for a 17 year old (the back story) and even for a man in his early twenties. diane, the disillusioned teacher, is credible, as is the confused, "hormonally challenged" david. why martin is so terribly attracted to (or even obsessed with) him, however, is still not entirely clear to me. irène is an interesting character, i totally felt for her. while it took me a while to get into the story, i then read the last 150 pages in one sitting. what i enjoyed was that while the characters are fictional, events around them are not. the nazi occupation of paris, student riots, terrorist bombings are all too real, and their impact on the characters' lives is evident.
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August 14, 2020I am going to file Conquering Venus under books I might not have read, but did because I met the author, was quite taken with him, found myself intrigued, started reading and then quickly lost myself in this near otherworldly tale of romance, revolution, suicide and Paris.
August 12, 2022
This is the second time that I have read this book, the first time was probably about 15 or so years ago for a book group, and I seem to remember enjoying it a good deal more than I did this time. Perhaps it is because of the place I am emotionally but for whatever reason I found this book to be dragging this time around.
Martin is about 22 and his best friend, Diane, is a school teacher that ends up being picked to escort 10 or so students to Paris for a month's vacation from Memphis, Tennessee. One of the boys is David, and Marting starts falling for him as David is a big flirt. It doesn't go well. All of this brings back up to Martin, his lover Peter who died under upsetting circumstances about a year before.
While in Paris, Martin makes friends with a recluse who lives across the street from their hotel. She has spent lots of time spying on the hotel guests since she has agoraphobia and is unable to leave her apartment, and we get to know why she is so badly off, and what happened to HER husband during the rebellion against De Gault's administration some 30 years earlier.
The book then deals with all of the people involved trying to figure out now to move on, into new lives, since the old ones are not untenable.
Martin is about 22 and his best friend, Diane, is a school teacher that ends up being picked to escort 10 or so students to Paris for a month's vacation from Memphis, Tennessee. One of the boys is David, and Marting starts falling for him as David is a big flirt. It doesn't go well. All of this brings back up to Martin, his lover Peter who died under upsetting circumstances about a year before.
While in Paris, Martin makes friends with a recluse who lives across the street from their hotel. She has spent lots of time spying on the hotel guests since she has agoraphobia and is unable to leave her apartment, and we get to know why she is so badly off, and what happened to HER husband during the rebellion against De Gault's administration some 30 years earlier.
The book then deals with all of the people involved trying to figure out now to move on, into new lives, since the old ones are not untenable.
March 19, 2010
The theme is clear enough in Collin Kelley’s After the Poison: We do not care about people who are peripheral to mainstream society—the poor, the blacks, the gays, the Muslims, the dwellers in the Third World. We do not care about them here or abroad. And to illustrate this, Kelley creates vivid images.
. . . this place
barely exists offers no kickbacks
to presidents, their kin or commanders. . . .
No liberation force is coming [to Darfur:]. . . .
Here is famine, genocide,
dark skin pouring black oil
that holds no currency.
(from “War For Oil,” page 5)
No. And we do not care.
. . . the loss of life, while painful,
is a mere drop in the Indian Ocean. . . .
In Banda Aceh, the pool outside the Grand Mosque
is full of debris and bodies, bloated by sea and heat.
Men and women cry, hands to Heaven, . . .
(from “Banda Aceh,” pages 6-7)
But do not compare this to “airplanes flying into buildings.” No, it’s Christmas, when the tsunami hits. so “[Heaven is:] not taking calls this week.” “America cleans up its dead so easily,” unlike “the UNCHRISTIAN Third World.” (from “Banda Aceh,” page 6-7)
And in London, the torso of a black boy floats in the Thames. He has been beheaded. His head was probably sacrificed “to drive the evil back to Africa” or maybe eaten by a white man.
. . . police determine this one
came from Nigeria
by the density of his bones. . . .
One small boy, his homeland
a gene, his identity a mystery. . . .
One small boy. 299 still missing.
They call this one Adam.
(from “Human Trafficking,” pages 12-13)
Not all of Kelley’s poems are set in foreign lands. Some deal with events in California, where Ronal Reagan is being buried, “Ronnie’s head to the west/ finally out of his ass.” (from “Siege,” page 3) In our nation’s capital, “there is hope yet,” as speaking to Condoleezza Rice, the poet says, “. . . there is still time to come to the nation’s aid./ I dream of you sitting in front of Congress, nailing it/ with two simple words: ‘Bush lied.’” (from “Confidentiality,” page 8) In New Orleans, some things haven’t changed much from 1905 to 2005. “Katherine, black woman,/ hung from a poplar tree.” (from “Katrina Origins,” page 15) In San Francisco, “In the library, all slick stone,/ more gray, the homeless line up/ for 15 minutes at a free computer.” (from “Hurt,” page 18) And in Harlem, “The man in a hoopty Seville, blue/ and dented, turns a corner /. . . screaming fire, fire, fir.,” while “the two big booty black girls”—described in the first lines of the poem: “the right hair, nails did, jeans that will hug curves”—“yell [back:] where’s it at, motherfucker?” (from “In Harlem,” pages 26-27)
Kelley, who is always open and honest about his own homosexuality (and, it seems. everything else), deals directly with this subject in two poems, “Fatwa” and “Siege.” Ronald Reagon, he says,
. . . knew
their kind from his Hollywood days, grab-assing
in the Warner Brothers’ dressing rooms. Faggots.
Bad enough he had to dirty his mouth with the word
AIDS, but gay would never pass his lips,
as if his withholding the word banished them,
made their cries of shame, shame, shame outside
the White House nothing more than a collective
bad dream. . . .
(from “Siege,” page 3)
Then in “Fatwa,” Kelley speaks of an encounter with a Muslim man, whom the speaker in the poem “picked up at the station.” And at this point, it behooves us to remember that the “I” in the poem may or may not be Kelley himself. Although Kelley is gay, he is no more required, or perhaps even inclined, to write autobiographically than any other poet. Kelley is writing about social outcasts and our lack of concern for their well-being, not telling the story of his life. The images concerning what happens and Kelley’s smart play on words are powerful.
I’m here to be your persecution cum dump,
take it out on me, take it out on me. . . .
Let’s come together,
fucking in rhythm and sorrow.
(from “Fatwa,” page 24)
Come together, indeed.
It’s often the last lines of Kelley’s poems—like the final three quoted above—that he earns and uses so well. Lines like these drive home Kelley’s point: our indifference to the pain of others: “I can feel my shoe filling with blood.” (from “Hurt,” 19), “One lost kingdom is enough.” (from “Siege,” page 4), and : “. . . fight the powers, fight the powers that be.” (from “Drowned World,” page 17). These final lines are especially strong:
. . . countries will be occupied, the rich
will drink oil, racism will rise in floodwaters,
and I’ll be free, pardoned, back in the familial fold.
But every time you see me, you’ll remember
the gun in my hand, the street-fighting years,
that we are still prisoners of war,
and you’ll wonder just who has been brainwashed.
(from “Patty Hurst On The Occasion Of Presidential Pardon,” page 21)
And the final lines of the chapbook’s final poem:
Somewhere in the static, a face is trying to come through,
a movie I saw long ago or some other song, Zevon maybe.
And in the rolling vertical hold the words come clearly:
send lawyers, guns and money.”
(from “Los Angeles,” page 23)
Throughout After the Poison, Kelley’s language is uncluttered, his images clear. The reader is never left to solve a word puzzle, but neither language nor image is simplistic. Kelley gives voices and faces to the marginalized and unheard, so that the chapbook seems, somehow, longer than it is, as he continues—poem after poignant poem—to strike chords of true compassion, challenging his reader to care. Collin Kelley calls us out, makes us aware of the poison: the racism, the nationalism, the homophobia. We are now without excuse. What will we do?
first published in Blogcritics
. . . this place
barely exists offers no kickbacks
to presidents, their kin or commanders. . . .
No liberation force is coming [to Darfur:]. . . .
Here is famine, genocide,
dark skin pouring black oil
that holds no currency.
(from “War For Oil,” page 5)
No. And we do not care.
. . . the loss of life, while painful,
is a mere drop in the Indian Ocean. . . .
In Banda Aceh, the pool outside the Grand Mosque
is full of debris and bodies, bloated by sea and heat.
Men and women cry, hands to Heaven, . . .
(from “Banda Aceh,” pages 6-7)
But do not compare this to “airplanes flying into buildings.” No, it’s Christmas, when the tsunami hits. so “[Heaven is:] not taking calls this week.” “America cleans up its dead so easily,” unlike “the UNCHRISTIAN Third World.” (from “Banda Aceh,” page 6-7)
And in London, the torso of a black boy floats in the Thames. He has been beheaded. His head was probably sacrificed “to drive the evil back to Africa” or maybe eaten by a white man.
. . . police determine this one
came from Nigeria
by the density of his bones. . . .
One small boy, his homeland
a gene, his identity a mystery. . . .
One small boy. 299 still missing.
They call this one Adam.
(from “Human Trafficking,” pages 12-13)
Not all of Kelley’s poems are set in foreign lands. Some deal with events in California, where Ronal Reagan is being buried, “Ronnie’s head to the west/ finally out of his ass.” (from “Siege,” page 3) In our nation’s capital, “there is hope yet,” as speaking to Condoleezza Rice, the poet says, “. . . there is still time to come to the nation’s aid./ I dream of you sitting in front of Congress, nailing it/ with two simple words: ‘Bush lied.’” (from “Confidentiality,” page 8) In New Orleans, some things haven’t changed much from 1905 to 2005. “Katherine, black woman,/ hung from a poplar tree.” (from “Katrina Origins,” page 15) In San Francisco, “In the library, all slick stone,/ more gray, the homeless line up/ for 15 minutes at a free computer.” (from “Hurt,” page 18) And in Harlem, “The man in a hoopty Seville, blue/ and dented, turns a corner /. . . screaming fire, fire, fir.,” while “the two big booty black girls”—described in the first lines of the poem: “the right hair, nails did, jeans that will hug curves”—“yell [back:] where’s it at, motherfucker?” (from “In Harlem,” pages 26-27)
Kelley, who is always open and honest about his own homosexuality (and, it seems. everything else), deals directly with this subject in two poems, “Fatwa” and “Siege.” Ronald Reagon, he says,
. . . knew
their kind from his Hollywood days, grab-assing
in the Warner Brothers’ dressing rooms. Faggots.
Bad enough he had to dirty his mouth with the word
AIDS, but gay would never pass his lips,
as if his withholding the word banished them,
made their cries of shame, shame, shame outside
the White House nothing more than a collective
bad dream. . . .
(from “Siege,” page 3)
Then in “Fatwa,” Kelley speaks of an encounter with a Muslim man, whom the speaker in the poem “picked up at the station.” And at this point, it behooves us to remember that the “I” in the poem may or may not be Kelley himself. Although Kelley is gay, he is no more required, or perhaps even inclined, to write autobiographically than any other poet. Kelley is writing about social outcasts and our lack of concern for their well-being, not telling the story of his life. The images concerning what happens and Kelley’s smart play on words are powerful.
I’m here to be your persecution cum dump,
take it out on me, take it out on me. . . .
Let’s come together,
fucking in rhythm and sorrow.
(from “Fatwa,” page 24)
Come together, indeed.
It’s often the last lines of Kelley’s poems—like the final three quoted above—that he earns and uses so well. Lines like these drive home Kelley’s point: our indifference to the pain of others: “I can feel my shoe filling with blood.” (from “Hurt,” 19), “One lost kingdom is enough.” (from “Siege,” page 4), and : “. . . fight the powers, fight the powers that be.” (from “Drowned World,” page 17). These final lines are especially strong:
. . . countries will be occupied, the rich
will drink oil, racism will rise in floodwaters,
and I’ll be free, pardoned, back in the familial fold.
But every time you see me, you’ll remember
the gun in my hand, the street-fighting years,
that we are still prisoners of war,
and you’ll wonder just who has been brainwashed.
(from “Patty Hurst On The Occasion Of Presidential Pardon,” page 21)
And the final lines of the chapbook’s final poem:
Somewhere in the static, a face is trying to come through,
a movie I saw long ago or some other song, Zevon maybe.
And in the rolling vertical hold the words come clearly:
send lawyers, guns and money.”
(from “Los Angeles,” page 23)
Throughout After the Poison, Kelley’s language is uncluttered, his images clear. The reader is never left to solve a word puzzle, but neither language nor image is simplistic. Kelley gives voices and faces to the marginalized and unheard, so that the chapbook seems, somehow, longer than it is, as he continues—poem after poignant poem—to strike chords of true compassion, challenging his reader to care. Collin Kelley calls us out, makes us aware of the poison: the racism, the nationalism, the homophobia. We are now without excuse. What will we do?
first published in Blogcritics
June 3, 2010
I read an earlier draft of this book several years ago, and was deeply impressed with Kelley's abilities as a writer. As a poet, he has a gift for clever-but-not-overwrought turns of phrase and succinct, illuminating flashes of insight. The same gift is in evidence here, in the edition of the book that finally saw print after way too long in limbo. It's a compelling read, with prose that adheres to what I consider the highest standard: it flows without drawing undue attention to itself. It's a page-turner without being lighter than air and containing nothing but pleasant-smelling vapors. The characters are meticulously drawn, as is the Paris setting. There is a palpable sense of tension in the book that never boils over but keeps things moving along at an engaging simmer. Yes, I really liked it.
Conquering Venus is a unique story, and it doesn't fit neatly in with any category I can think of. It's a novel of the supernatural, but the phenomenon of interlinked lives is not explained in this volume. (Kelley reportedly conceived of the book as the first in a trilogy. I'm assuming that all will be revealed in time.) Kelley definitely didn't let the characters have the easy way out. Some of them are quite hard to like at times. No one is redeemed at the end by the power of love. Nor is it a coming-out story where a young protagonist finds himself and lives happily ever after. In fact, it's almost the antithesis of a Bildungsroman, since the at the end of the book the characters are all in more complicated circumstances than they were at the beginning. If anything, the interstitial nature of this book is one of its greatest assets. It borrows from various genres without truly belonging to any of them, and in so doing, it creates its own set of rules and its own road map.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a couple of gripes. Ironically, for all the richness of the Paris setting, the chapters near the end - set in Memphis - felt less fleshed-out than the parts of the book set in Europe. Although these chapters are essential to the story, they read didn't convey the same sense of place. But perhaps that was the point: returning to American suburban blah after hyperreal experiences in central Paris could be nothing but an anticlimax for Martin. Another gripe: terrorist activity is a significant plot device (and one that probably made publishers nervous), but the identity of the terrorists - while not necessarily the point - was less than clear. The author's afterword discusses this a little, but I thought that with the overall level of detail in the book, this lacuna was puzzling. I don't know if these were oversights or deliberate choices, but if I'd been writing the book, I'd have done it differently. That being said, it's nitpicking to make a list of flaws when a book is as strong as this. I don't know whether there's still going to be a sequel, and if so, how much of it has been written. It's a book I'll buy as soon as it is released (unless I'm fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy before it comes out).
Conquering Venus is a unique story, and it doesn't fit neatly in with any category I can think of. It's a novel of the supernatural, but the phenomenon of interlinked lives is not explained in this volume. (Kelley reportedly conceived of the book as the first in a trilogy. I'm assuming that all will be revealed in time.) Kelley definitely didn't let the characters have the easy way out. Some of them are quite hard to like at times. No one is redeemed at the end by the power of love. Nor is it a coming-out story where a young protagonist finds himself and lives happily ever after. In fact, it's almost the antithesis of a Bildungsroman, since the at the end of the book the characters are all in more complicated circumstances than they were at the beginning. If anything, the interstitial nature of this book is one of its greatest assets. It borrows from various genres without truly belonging to any of them, and in so doing, it creates its own set of rules and its own road map.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a couple of gripes. Ironically, for all the richness of the Paris setting, the chapters near the end - set in Memphis - felt less fleshed-out than the parts of the book set in Europe. Although these chapters are essential to the story, they read didn't convey the same sense of place. But perhaps that was the point: returning to American suburban blah after hyperreal experiences in central Paris could be nothing but an anticlimax for Martin. Another gripe: terrorist activity is a significant plot device (and one that probably made publishers nervous), but the identity of the terrorists - while not necessarily the point - was less than clear. The author's afterword discusses this a little, but I thought that with the overall level of detail in the book, this lacuna was puzzling. I don't know if these were oversights or deliberate choices, but if I'd been writing the book, I'd have done it differently. That being said, it's nitpicking to make a list of flaws when a book is as strong as this. I don't know whether there's still going to be a sequel, and if so, how much of it has been written. It's a book I'll buy as soon as it is released (unless I'm fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy before it comes out).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2011
It's a novel by a poet, and all that that entails. That includes poetry written by characters within the novel, but mainly I mean that it goes for atmosphere and emotion more than plot and verisimilitude.
It's also a novel in which a gay man romantically pursues a high schooler, though great pains are made to point out that he's 18, so totally legal! Also the man is a chaperone on the student's class trip to Paris, so even more wonky power dynamics. Just pointing this out as potentially problematic for the average reader. And me, even though I'm not the average reader.
I did enjoy the book though. For better or worse, given that it's largely melodrama. Mystically connected people, people unsure of their sexuality, suicides and divorces, alcoholism, flashbacks to VERY IMPORTANT EVENTS, secrets hidden for years, symbolic statuary, agoraphobia, voyeurism, terrorist bombs, pierced genitals, bad French food, this book has got it all.
The more I think about it the less I think I can defend my liking it, but then it's like anything that's fluffy to read. You read V.C. Andrews and I'll read this.
If it makes you feel better the next book I'm reading is about suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. TOPICAL!
Also some Borges. INTELLECUTAL!
Okay, and a collection of erotica. Sue me.
It's also a novel in which a gay man romantically pursues a high schooler, though great pains are made to point out that he's 18, so totally legal! Also the man is a chaperone on the student's class trip to Paris, so even more wonky power dynamics. Just pointing this out as potentially problematic for the average reader. And me, even though I'm not the average reader.
I did enjoy the book though. For better or worse, given that it's largely melodrama. Mystically connected people, people unsure of their sexuality, suicides and divorces, alcoholism, flashbacks to VERY IMPORTANT EVENTS, secrets hidden for years, symbolic statuary, agoraphobia, voyeurism, terrorist bombs, pierced genitals, bad French food, this book has got it all.
The more I think about it the less I think I can defend my liking it, but then it's like anything that's fluffy to read. You read V.C. Andrews and I'll read this.
If it makes you feel better the next book I'm reading is about suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. TOPICAL!
Also some Borges. INTELLECUTAL!
Okay, and a collection of erotica. Sue me.
January 27, 2012
A wonderfully written love letter (of sorts) to Paris. Conquering Venus was a sweet, sad and sexy tale with just enough melodrama to keep it interesting but not enough to send it to Desperate Housewives territory. The coincidences with Martin's female friends seemed a bit contrived but then that is why this is a novel, not a non-fiction piece. Although what happened could easily occur in the real world, if it was handled a little less skillfully it would seem like Jerry Springer or a Jackie Collins novel.
August 13, 2009
I read this book in manuscript form and loved it so much I blurbbed the book. Here's what I said:
"Unflinching and mysterious, Conquering Venus is that rare combination of poetic and page-turner. Collin Kelley – who refreshingly faces taboos head-on – has packed his cinematic debut novel with compelling characters, meaty plot twists and satisfying surprises. This novel is freshly contemporary as well as, in its own fashion, a love letter to Paris."
"Unflinching and mysterious, Conquering Venus is that rare combination of poetic and page-turner. Collin Kelley – who refreshingly faces taboos head-on – has packed his cinematic debut novel with compelling characters, meaty plot twists and satisfying surprises. This novel is freshly contemporary as well as, in its own fashion, a love letter to Paris."
March 16, 2012
I fell in love with this book. It contains such raw, believable emotion. The story moves along almost too quickly, because I absolutely did not want this novel to end. The characters are so real, with a grand depth of emotion. The magical realism adds a sense of mystery to the journey. A superb addition to LGBT literature specifically, and literature in general.
August 25, 2014
Such a page-turner! I loved this novel. Martin's struggles remind me vaguely of a 22 year old Holden Caulfield. And the indelible character Irene! One of those must-read books you come across every now and then. Pick up your copy today!
June 29, 2010
Collin Kelley transforms his remarkable poetry to a first try at long fiction. I think the label gay literary fiction has actually hurt his sales....
May 21, 2012
Great prose and excellent storytelling set in Paris. Come on!
September 4, 2012
I highly recommend this book for anyone
FTC: I received a free copy of this book and was not reimbursed in any other way.
FTC: I received a free copy of this book and was not reimbursed in any other way.
November 17, 2012
Loved It!
October 9, 2013
An interesting story made annoying by lots and lots of first novel amateurishness.
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