Tags
Deception, family, Gay Men, Gordon Merrick, Homosexuality, Lovers, NancyKay Shapiro, Secrets, What Love Means To You People
Leaving his childhood town wasn’t that easy for Seth McKenna. For with this decision, he also had to leave his younger sister together with their fragile mother in the hands of his abusive and violent stepfather. Seth’s escapes to make a new life for himself manages to be fruitful and productive even just a struggling artist in Manhattan. Then a handsome older man, Jim Glaser, starts to come in Seth’s way and is greatly astonished to found in Seth the greatest love of his life. Surprised at the way their romance bloom -as he expected to be alone in life forever for he still loved his last partner- Jim is much satisfied on how his new life offers him with so much indulgence. Then suddenly Seth’s sister comes in. And as it happen things blurred in Jim’s mind, blocking his thought and asking himself he really knew the person he loves.
What Love Means to You People is a beautifully written debut from an undoubtfully talented writer. It is one of the few novels I’ve read which consists of such readable lines and quotable conversations. Dialogues and sentences which often comes to my mind and not those poetic and cliché types that looks as if their acting which commonly doesn’t happen in real life.
The novels play on different human emotions in my opinion is top-notched. It also succeeds in delivering a resolution that is also satisfying. For what will you do if the one person you thought you knew presented something you never knew before? For Seth, lying to Jim doesn’t really mean he’s cheating or being unfaithful with his partner but rather protecting him from something he knew might possibly destroy their relationship. His willful reinvention about his life is enough to see how much he is capable of loving. Seth McKenna and Jim Glaser stands with me together with Gordon Merrick’s Patrice Valmer in The Quirk as one of those characters I knew I’ll never forget. I highly recommend this to everyone.
And I’m glad to share a message from the author through Goodreads.
“NancyKay said,
Opening Sentences: Jim Glaser still did what needed to be done, every day.
Ending Sentences: He doesn’t want to scare him away.