Borrowed Light: A Novel [Hardcover]

Lisa Schamess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

Lisa Schamess’s novel is a riveting interior view of a mind facing its own demise—in understated language devoid of histrionics. This is a novel about a particular gay man’s struggle to cope with his imminent death even as he tries to keep up with his professional commitments (he’s a Washington, D.C., architect) and with mending his tangled personal relationships. It is also a story with universal reverberations. The milieu of Schamess’s masterful first novel is David Baum’s dying consciousness; human mortality is its theme.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"First novel about the last days of a young architect who dies of AIDS. . .a chronicle rather than a lament." -- From KIRKUS Reviews, October 1, 2002

From the Author

The subject – the death of a gay man in the prime of his life from AIDS – shifted from topical to historical in the eight years it took me to write the book. I think it captures a time in our culture and, given that AIDS now seems a permanent public health crisis, as well as an economic and social force, it reinforces the fact that the personal is political, and resonates with the book’s images of small things with large impacts – for example, the little seam in the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre that leads to the death and injury of a multitude.

I have found it interesting to be a heterosexual woman taking on this subject in a literary climate that equates authentic writing with staying within the narrow confines of direct experience and cultural background. I have a lot in common with David Baum – I’m Jewish, his age, grew up in Texas, moved to Washington, and took up with a crowd of friends and a career path similar to his (I worked for years in historic preservation though I am not an architect, just a writer). His character takes much from a dear friend who actually did die last year of AIDS.

I am happy to add myself to the small but maybe growing number of young(ish!) authors who identify themselves as Jewish authors. Since my husband’s death and some other changes in my life I have found a synagogue and begun to form closer ties with my religion.

I think the particular contribution of this book is its attempt to document dying as a logical stage of life, without a lot of sentimentality (I hope) but with a great deal of consideration to the way we each approach death.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press; 1St Edition edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870744747
• ISBN-13: 978-0870744747
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,623,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Schamess' first novel, Borrowed Light, was published in 2002 by SMU Press and won that year's Texas Institute of Letters prize for new fiction. She has published short stories and essays in a variety of magazines, journals, and anthologies, including Creative Nonfiction magazine, Planning, Beliefnet, Glimmer Train, and Defunct Magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating, February 21, 2003

By 

Anna Klein - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borrowed Light: A Novel (Hardcover)

At the age of twenty-five, David Baum was diagnosed with AIDS. Now he's a Washington, D.C. architect, he has a lover named Rich, he is acrid and honest and painfully blunt ... and he is dying. This is his story, the chronicle of his last four years on earth and his struggle to survive his work, his relationships, and his life.

By the time I reached the end of BORROWED LIGHT (which I did unfortunately far into the night), I was sobbing. Seldom have I encountered a book more emotionally devastating. Forget THE LOVELY BONES -- BORROWED LIGHT is neither sappy nor weak, the details are incredibly real, the prose is sheer poetry, and the result is amazing. In fact, by the time I reached the middle sections I had forgotten it was a novel; I read every word with the understanding it really happened. Although initially I found I had to take the story in small doses -- over a period of two days as opposed to my usual book-a-night orgy -- by the time I reached the end I was both shattered and incredibly impressed.

BORROWED LIGHT delivers everything it promises. I could not recommend it more highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, August 10, 2011

By 

Movie Maven (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borrowed Light: A Novel (Hardcover)

Utterly brilliant--If Virginia Woolf had lived to write novels in the post-modern age of AIDS, this is the novel she might have written. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Shedding light with "Borrowed Light", November 13, 2005

By 

Riannan (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borrowed Light: A Novel (Hardcover)

This moving, never maudlin chronicle of a young man's journey from diagnosis to death from AIDS lets you into David Baum's mind and personality. With all the pettiness and greatness of soul that defines humankind, he takes us with him as his health deteriorates and his relationships change. A great priviledge. Movingly, beautifully written.