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All We Have Is Now: A Novel [Hardcover]

Robert Taylor (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 15, 2002
Ian McBride, a principal in a prominent repertory theater company, erected an emotional wall after his longtime lover died of AIDS. But during rehearsals for The Tempest, Jimmy Davidson, the actor playing Ariel, begins to chip away at Ian's walls. After twelve years along, Ian finds himself once again deeply and happily in love. Despite the usual bumps of any relationship, Ian and Jimmy begin to slowly weave their lives together.

But during a visit to his family's home in Kimberley, Texas, Jimmy is savagely murdered in a bias attack. Wanting revenge and needing the solace and closure he never found after his first lover's death, Ian goes to Kimberley for Jimmy's funeral and the trial. Buffeted by the media that have descended to cover the sensational case, and regarded with suspicion and distaste by the town and by Jimmy's equally bereft parents, Ian is isolated and alone with his rage, sadness, and loss. That is, until he finds an unlikely ally in the person of Jimmy's beloved grandmother, Livie, a woman of great compassion and emotional fire, and with a secret history of her own.

All We Have Is Now is a moving and powerful novel of love and loss, of hate and understanding, of grief and resolution.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Washington, D.C., and Texas, Taylor's derivative sophomore effort (following The Innocent) shadows the Mathew Sheppard atrocity of 1998 in a sentimental, soap opera-styled tale of love, hate and redemption. As the story begins, narrator Ian McBride is crushed by the death of his lover of eight years, Trevor, from AIDS, while Trevor's family hides in shame. The subsequent 12 years of loneliness and depression find Ian, an actor, keeping "safe" in the "elaborately constructed defenses" of books and his theater work at the Capitol Rep in Washington, where he's cast in a production of The Tempest. Soon enough, he is impressed by and reluctantly attracted to young Jimmy Davidson (playing Ariel) and a passionate whirlwind romance ignites. Months later, a production of A Long Day's Journey into Night is on the horizon for the committed couple, but first, Jimmy heads off to his hometown in Texas for his mother's 50th birthday and never returns. He is violently killed in a hate crime that sets off a stagy, overlong courtroom trial and media circus pitting homophobic townspeople against Ian and Jimmy's family, some of whom, like Jimmy's grandmother Livie, Ian bonds with. Justice is duly served, but a mawkish, implausible conclusion undoes any legitimacy gained along the way. Taylor is capable of flourishes of moving prose, and the book's reflection of Sheppard's death evokes painful nostalgia. Readers able to overlook all of the saccharine melodrama will find a worthy narrative buried beneath, inspired by a tragedy that will forever astound and devastate.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The romantic framework of this very contemporary novel is readily apparent despite the tragedy the author hangs upon it. But that's fine because the romantic and tragic aspects work so well together. Ian McBride is a middle-aged leading actor in a Washington, D.C., repertory company. The death of his lover from AIDS several years ago has effectively sealed off his heart from the possibility of further entanglements--and pain. But when much-younger Jimmy Davidson joins the troupe, Ian is a goner: his heart opens up to the love of his life. However, when Jimmy takes a trip back to his small Texas hometown for his mother's fiftieth birthday, Ian gets a midnight call announcing that Jimmy is dead--the victim of a hate crime. Ian goes to Texas, but his presence is not universally appreciated as he takes up residence for the duration of the legal proceedings. Jimmy's death compels some individuals to rightfully deal with their emotions, and readers will take heart from this testament to the correctness of love in any context. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312284810
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312284817
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,303,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Can He Love Again??, April 28, 2003
This review is from: All We Have Is Now: A Novel (Hardcover)
This novel begins with a moving prologue in which Ian describes the death of his lover, Trevor, Ian's life partner who has died of AIDS. The devastating impact of Trevor's death leaves middle-aged Ian empty, no longer willing to love another, and totally devoted to his career as a repertory actor. Will he ever be able to love again? Well, several years pass, and Ian finds himself drawn to a beautiful young actor from Texas, named Jimmy, who's playing Ariel in the company's production of "The Tempest". Jimmy falls for Ian as well, and slowly works his way inside the walls of Ian's heart. But on a visit home to Texas, tragedy strikes, as Jimmy is the victim of a hate crime. Ian once again finds himself the survivor after Jimmy's death. Will he be able to rebuild his life again? Or will this be too much for him to overcome? Ian flies to Texas for the funeral and the second part of the novel begins revolving around the trial of Jimmy's killers. Will justice be served? And will Ian be able to show forgiveness?

I think the strength of the novel is placed on the second part of the book. The relationship Ian develops with Jimmy's grandmother is beautifully told, and the strength, love and friendship they discover in each other is truly heartwarming. Taylor's taken on two hot topics of the last twenty years in gay politics, AIDS and hate crimes, and has done a remarkable job with them. Yes, it's a take on the Matthew Shepard story, and no one is denying that, and this story could never compare to the tragedy of Matthew's death. However, the more these tragic hate crime stories are told, in whatever form, credit should be given to whoever gets the message across of how wrong and hateful these senseless attacks are. This is a well-written story about love, loss, and the desire of the human spirit to survive.

Joe Hanssen

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars All We Have Is Now, February 3, 2003
By 
Cliff Kurkowski (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: All We Have Is Now: A Novel (Hardcover)
All We Have Is Now is Robert Taylor's latest novel about a lonely actor who finds love for the second time in his life but loses his lover after he is brutally murdered in a hate crime.
... 
The murder sets off a complicated tapestry of events in the small Texas town where Jimmy grew up. A media circus trial ensues, discrimination and gay bias unravels, and Jimmy's parents finally come to terms with their son's homosexuality with the help of Jimmy's grandmother, Livie and Ian.
 
The book has a reflective feel to the Matthew Sheppard case and even mentions it during the trial but I don't think Taylor was trying to motivate his readers in that direction. Taylor brings many different messages to the table with his book. He explores the relationship between a younger gay man and an older gay man, he works a psychological profile on how to deal with a lover's death from AIDS and a hate crime, and he tries to deal with the emotions of a lover's parents whom are not acceptable to the gay lifestyle.
 
Taylor succeeds in making this novel a tearjerker. There is a lot of sadness through out and you can get into each one of the characters streams of consciousness but I think Taylor sensationalized Jimmy's murder too much and gave it an overblown look....
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5.0 out of 5 stars Writer to be treasured!, May 12, 2007
This review is from: All We Have Is Now (Paperback)
Taylor is an exceedingly fine writer..one that will give you pause when taking up your next books! Fine writers are few!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Trevor's death was a long time coming, slow and agonizing, but it still seemed sudden to me. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Beth, Carey Plummer, Jimmy Davidson, Capitol Rep, James Davidson, The Tempest, James Arthur Davidson, Leroy Curtis, New York, Sheriff Wright, Bainbridge Mall, Fort Worth, Frank Perkins
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