Interesting Monsters

by Aldo Alvarez

A sly, brainy, delicately shaded novel masquerading as a postmodern short story collection, Aldo Alvarez's debut is like an offbeat dinner guest who ends up as the life of the party. Most of these 16 stories offer a fragment in an ongoing (though out-of-sequence) tale of the love relationship of Mark, a brooding, slightly homophobic music producer, and Dean, an antiques appraiser, who tests the tolerance of his new love interests by making a queeny display of himself on first dates. One of the most poignant of these stories, "Quintessence," takes place before Dean meets Mark, and is about his failed attempt to find love with a simple, well-meaning, ordinary Joe, who has shown Dean his horrible "art" of doll toilet-paper covers, "breathtakingly ugly in design and execution." Refusing to take the easy way out of this heartbreaking scenario, Alvarez's sympathies remain evenly divided. Even when Dean hates himself, his author doesn't. With malice toward none, and humor for all, Alvarez builds a network of complicated but very real connections, in a voice that is spare and surprising. --Regina Marler

What does your soul sound like? Mark, a has-been pop star at 40, converts his mother's attic into a recording studio to find out. Dean, who has AIDS, moves to his native Puerto Rico with his partner to enjoy his last few months of life, only to find himself battling a scheming, homophobic real estate agent who is ultimately trapped by her own wicked plans.

With a playful intelligence, Alvarez shows that the real monsters in these stories are the prejudices that keep us silent and invisible. Here, the living visit the dead, lovers and friends endure catastrophic first dates and heartbreaking good-byes, and the lucky ones, sometimes, find true love.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this off-beat and emotionally vibrant collection about the gays.