Word: kondoleon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1994-1994
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...looking at fiction, Josephine Humphreys wrote once, is to look at it as the writer trying to answer a question. Considered in this way. Harry Kondoleon's new novel,Diary of a Lost Boy, makes quite clear from the get-go what its question will be. Can Hector Diaz, his narrator, detach himself from his impending death from AIDS so that he may live for now, so that the marital problems of his best friends, are as important to him as his own death? And on the heels of that, there is another question, one which we may pose...
...Harry Kondoleon...
What makes Mr. Kondoleon's novel the success that it is his ability to reveal Hector to us, even though Hector is in the process of losing himself. Any points Mr. Kondoleon has to make about 'life in the age of AIDS," as book jackets and television shows like to call the time we live in are gently submerged within Hector's character. The comedy of the novel is gently submerged as well within its obvious tragedy, but the submersion is so delicate that the tragedy at times seems to fade. But while Hector does manage to transform "peace...
...however, that Mr. Kondoleon's humor becomes wholly ironic. The comedy moves alongside the tragedy, and the tenuous relation of the two generally manages to avoid seeming bitter or sarcastic. One does not necessarily override the other Death is not funny, maybe, but Hector certainly is. And while death is surely present in the novel, we are detached from it to some extent. We are busy listening to Hector...