Customer Reviews

Conquering Venus

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4 star:		(2)
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Collin Kelley's debut novel is an irresistible read. Wait no longer! As a poet, Kelley's writing is precise, captivating, and memorable. Combine this with a sensual plot that moves at a clip, and it becomes impossible not be invested in the characters. What compels Irene to be agoraphobic? Will David ever be able to be honest with Martin? What is the catalyst for Diane's snarky and often hilarious quips? Set mainly in Paris, Kelley deftly brings the city to life, using familiar landmarks as talismans for key scenes in the novel: the palace of mirrors at Versailles, Notre Dame, Ile de la Cite, etc. Building on this, he overlays his characters, creating a resonance that continues long after the last page of the novel:

"Martin studied himself in the unforgiving image. He looked thin and haunted; his eyes showed despair and exhaustion. Irene knelt beside him, holding a photo of her and Jean-Louis taken in the same spot in front of Notre-Dame. "This is a message," Irene whispered, "Not coincidence."

Kelly sets up a compelling combination of love triangles--both overt and secret--a dose of magic realism, voyeurism on both intended and non-intended front (are we as readers voyeurs as well?) all presented through well-crafted prose and symbolism. In doing so, he leaves us looking at Venus de Milo in a way we have not yet seen her before.

But the best news of all is that there is not one view, nor one story to tell. Kelley's Conquering Venus is the first of a trilogy and a brilliant foreshadowing of what is to come.

Wow! I'm not sure what I was expecting going into this one, but what I got was writing of the highest caliber that propelled a story that was both fascinatingly convoluted and heartbreaking. These characters will haunt me for a long time to come.

CV is the first gay literary fiction I've read, and it wasn't gentle with me. Brimming with coincidences, allusions, burst illusions, sexuality, and psychological depth, this book delivers both heartache and redemption, controversy and harmony. Irene, my favorite character in the novel, is a woman I want to make real and befriend. Bravo. I look forward to the sequel(s)!

Even the pain of a bad affair, unflinchingly portrayed, can not overcome the magic spell cast by Collin Kelley's Paris. That the affair verges on the impossible only makes the city - and the other main character, an elderly agoraphobe with a warm heart and penetrating insight - more alluring. In fact, this heartbreaking story could probably not take place anywhere else, just as the hero ultimately discovers that the whole story of his life can not take place anywhere else. The reviewer who said this book was not gentle with him is right. Like Kelley's poetry, this novel delivers a blow to the solarplexus, especially if you ever desired someone who just could not handle you and was off on their own blindly self-destructive path. I don't know if Amazon recommends that you buy "Conquering Venus" in combo with Kelley's "Better to Travel" - but I certainly do. A nice holiday twosome. Well, maybe not "nice." As Macheath says in "Threepenny Opera" - "This is art, and art is not 'nice.'"

I read half of CONQUERING VENUS on a flight from Atlanta to Chicago and didn't notice the time passing. In the airport waiting for my return flight I didn't hear them calling us to board because I was so engrossed in the book.

Conquering Venus by Collin Kelley is a page-turner which is difficult to put down! The plot is fast-paced and the characters are hauntingly realistic. Just when you think you have it all figured out, Kelley tosses a curve ball which engulfs the reader in the novel.
Kelley is also a poet. There is evidence of prose in his description of the setting, which is for the most part Paris. However, Kelley is careful not to drag out details which might bore the reader. No, you won't be bored.
Conquering Venus is listed under gay literature. However, the listing is irrelevant. I'm straight and found it easy to understand the characters.
What speaks volumes is that Kelley is from Georgia and is a true Southern writer with all of the story-telling skills bestowed upon that title. Hmm..could Kelley be his generation's version of Tennessee Williams? That will be revealed in time.

In "Conquering Venus," Collin Kelley creates a mysterious, compelling escape from the everyday, with wonderfully paced writing and gorgeous language. It's no surprise that Kelley's a poet, too. Treat this book like dessert, the kind you eat all at once and want more of.

First, this book is superbly written and polished. Second, the story draws you in such that I couldn't put the book down and didn't want it to end. The two main characters were very well developed and the secondary characters add a nice complexity to the storyline and the elements of mystery and intrigue. The primary setting in Paris was brought to life on the pages. I can't wait for the sequel.

Conquering Venus

I couldn't put this book down. The author had me totally immersed in the stories of the two main characters, one a man who is surviving a terrible loss and secret in this trip to Paris; the other an aging woman whose dead husband carried his own secret to his grave. Their stories interweave as the two characters meet and form an unlikely bond. I highly recommend the book!

Conquering Venus evokes a real Paris past and present, strange destinies and real struggles. The reader follows a skein of dreams through a real topography. A fascinating read.