Given the recent statistics coming from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention the largest spike in AIDS cases has been among young, gay African-American males it's not surprising that Hardy would use the fourth entry in his popular B-Boy Blues series (following If Only for One Night) to address this issue. In brief, diary-like vignettes ("March 28, 7:55 A.M."), Hardy spans three weeks in 1995 in the lives of black supermodel Raheim Rivers and his boyfriend, journalist Mitchell Crawford. The startling news that Raheim's idol, rapper Eazy-E, has AIDS causes the young man to examine his past and present entanglements and to secretly get tested himself for the virus. Despite the novel's underlying "message," Hardy deftly avoids any didacticism, as he revisits characters from the previous books and furthers the growing attachment between his two protagonists (despite, or perhaps because of, their frequent spats). Whether Raheim is buying his Ma a condominium ("I feel like Louise Jefferson"), discussing discrimination or the value of money with his six-year-old son, or simply being nursed back to health by Mitchell during a bout with the flu, the author's sharp ear for the foibles of human nature remains as keen as ever. His lovingly drawn characters provide a strong sense of reality, and his sense of humor enlivens the proceedings throughout (after watching Hitchcock's The Birds, Raheim notes that he'll "never look at a pigeon tha same way again"). Author tour. (Aug.) |0813920485 First published in 1994 in French, The Story of the Madman by Mongo Beti blatantly satirizes the local power struggles of postcolonial Africa. When a chance incident brings village patriarch Zoa?teleu and his people to the attention of the newly established government, Zoa?teleu and his two favorite sons, Zoa?toa and Narcisse, find their fortunes linked to the fate of the unnamed country. Zoa?teleu's imprisonment and Narcisse's and Zoa?toa's downfall reveal the "madness" of the regime. Born in Cameroon and exiled in France for years, Beti delivers a biting account of Africa's woes. (Univ. Press of Virginia, $45 224p ISBN 0-8139-2048-5; paper $16.95 -2049-3) |1585471313 The Last Confession by acclaimed Australian author Morris West (The Devil's Advocate; The Shoes of the Fisherman; The Ambassadors) is a posthumously published fictional account of Dominican monk Giordano Bruno's imprisonment before he is convicted of heresy and burned at the stake during the Inquisition in 1600. Presented in the form of a final testament written by Bruno in prison, the novel chronicles Bruno's life, his religious reflections and his final days in his cell. Introduction by Thomas Keneally. (Center Point, $25.95 248p ISBN 1-58547-131-3) |0425181618 In Fault Lines: Stories of Divorce, editor Caitlin Shetterly gathers short stories about separation and divorce. In "The Season of Divorce" by John Cheever, a young married woman is courted by an older married man, who appears on her doorstep to ask her husband to give her up. In Wendi Kaufman's "Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street," 11-year-old Vita imagines herself as Helen of Troy to cope with the pain and confusion of her father's departure. Also included are stories by John Updike, Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, Andre Dubus, Richard Ford, Alice Munro and others. (Berkley, $21.95 368p ISBN 0-425-18161-8) |0720611261 Everything Is Nice and Other Fiction, a 50th-anniversary anthology issued by independent British publisher Peter Owen, includes work by some of the most daring of 20th-century writers. In "Everything Is Nice" by Jane Bowles, a white woman in North Africa meets a Muslim woman on the street and follows her home, caught up in a near-absurd conversation. "The Poet," a prose poem by Octavio Paz, reflects rapturously on the nature of writing. Paul Bowles, Herman Hesse, Ana?s Nin and Colette are among the other writers represented. B&w illustrations. (192p ISBN 0-7206-1126-1) |1888451181 Blow-by-blow descriptions of the sexual adventures and drug-fueled escapades of suburban teens drive Synthetic Bi Products by Sparrow L. Patterson. Bisexual Orleigh is dying to escape the Chicago suburbs, and her quest for excitement eventually takes her to California. Along the way, she follows the Grateful Dead, becomes a tattoo artist and finds true love. Orleigh's on-the-fringe living is convincingly bleak and grungy, but unsteady prose makes Patterson's tale a taxing read. (Akashic, $15.95 paper 355p ISBN 1-888451-18-1) |0810118270 Set in the mountainous region of Ruthenia just after its annexation by Czechoslovakia after World War I, Ivan Olbracht's Nikola the Outlaw tells the story of the Greek Orthodox peasants who share the province with a merchant class of Jews. Nikola, one of the peasants, gains his fame by robbing travelers and distributing the proceeds to the poor. When the authorities and Jewish merchants offer a reward for Nikola's capture, some of Nikola's gang conspire against him for the prize money. This Robin Hood tale, a 20th-century Czech classic and Olbracht's masterpiece, is available now in a new translation by Maria K. Holecek. (Northwestern Univ., $18.95 paper 288p ISBN 0-8101-1827-0) |067003021X AUNT DIMITY: Detective Nancy Atherton. Viking, $22.95 (256p) ISBN 0-6700-3021-X ~ For an American, Atherton nicely captures the British cozy spirit, but her ghostly gimmick is not for every taste. In her seventh appearance (after 2000's Aunt Dimity Meets the Devil), Lori Shepherd, her husband and two-year-old twins have returned home to a cold, rainy English April after a three-month family visit to the U.S. to find that there has been a murder in Finch, their idyllic Cotswold village. Prunella Hooper "Pruneface" to most villagers was found dead of a blow to the head in her home, Crabtree Cottage. Given her malicious nature, the residents of Finch aren't surprised by her death; in fact, they seem relieved and yet are strangely reticent to come forward with any information. The list of suspects seems endless. So, with the aid of the Pym sisters' gingerbread cookies (a recipe for which is provided at book's end) and the sage advice of phantom counselor Aunt Dimity, who appears to Lori supernaturally on the blank pages of a journal, Lori and the vicar's nephew, Nicholas, begin a quest to unearth the truth behind the murder. In the process, they uncover a multitude of village secrets, including a few pertaining to themselves. With eccentric village characters, a tightly woven, well-executed plot and a spunky heroine, Atherton has created a cozy as spicy and zestful as the Pym sisters' gingerbread. Series fans are sure to be pleased. For some, however, the fantasy of Aunt Dimity is like the edible gold leaf on the cookies a nice touch if you like it, but it would taste better plain. 5-city author tour. (Oct. 1)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Hardy's style is gaunt, unclouded, and lucid as he looks uncompromisingly at his central character's dilemma of preserving his love life while secretly awaiting test results for his HIV status. Staggered by the death from AIDS of his idol, rapper Eazy-E, budding supermodel Raheim examines his own philandering past, trying to convince himself that his tiny betrayals could not have endangered his current lover, Mitchell (last seen with Raheim in If Only for One Nite). Hardy brilliantly lets Raheim's anxiety break through the surface of the narrative, just as it cracks through his consciousness in everyday dealings with Mitchell and his former lovers. The novel is timely given current concern over the rise of infected people in the young, gay, African American community. Highly recommended for general, black studies, and gay literature collections. Roger Durbin, Univ. of Akron, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
