PAGAN'S FATHER- P [Paperback]

Michael Arditti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

A Lambda Literary Award finalist, Pagan's Father explores a timely and important issue: gay parenting. The reader is taken on a dramatic journey in which Leo Young must confront the passions and opinions of his peers and the legal system-and fight not only for the right of sexual preference but for the custody and care of the young girl he helped raise and dearly loves.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone who loves a child will find this beautiful English novel, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 1996, excruciatingly painful and true. When Candida Mulliner, fatally ill, granted her old friend Leo Young testamentary guardianship of her 6-year-old daughter, Pagan, she meant specifically to exclude her adoptive parents, the mean-spirited middle-class couple whom she believed had never loved her, but had brought her into their home as decoration and were mortified when she exhibited a personality. Never having admitted who Pagan's biological father was, Candida preferred to elect Leo for the role. He stepped in gracefully when Pagan was born, offering consistency and love, and struggled to do and say the right things for her when Candida died, even as Pagan's unloving grandparents swept in and took legal possession of the child. The book is written in the second person, as an internal monologue that Leo conducts with the dead Candida, a reminiscence of their years of closeness, and a horrible confession of what happens when he lets Pagan out of his grasp and into that of her grandparents. Pagan's Father features lyrical and exacting prose, combined with a harrowing story of betrayal, persistence, and survival. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

Published earlier this year in Britain as Pagan and Her Parents, Arditti's second novel is narrated by Leo Young, the gay male companion of a single mother who, upon her death, leaves him in custody of her six-year-old daughter, Pagan. Addressed to the deceased mother, the story begins on ambiguous and promising ground, with Leo's sexuality, and his true relationship to Pagan, in doubt. But as these ambiguities are clarified, the novel takes on the air of an impassioned plea for single gay fatherhood. Arditti writes exceedingly well, and with resonance, and he traces the ever-evolving relationship between Leo and Pagan with skill and genuine feeling. By the time the evil, custody-grabbing grandparents are introduced, however, and two newspaper columns written by Leo arguing the case against homophobia are reproduced in full, polemic has squeezed the storytelling of much of its breath. Like Arditti's first novel, The Celibate, this work is ambitious both artistically and politically. But here, politics gains the upper, heavy hand. 30,000 first printing; QPC selection; translation, dramatic rights: Harold Ober.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569471835
• ISBN-13: 978-1569471838
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,200,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Novel But Not Without Its Faults, August 21, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Belmont, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pagan's Father (Hardcover)

"Pagan's Father," the story of a gay man's struggle to keep the little girl he has grown to love, is an enjoyable novel. However it was somewhat hampered by several problems I had in reading the story. The novel is written in the present tense, in the form of a letter to Pagan's dead mother, Candida. This grew to be confusing because of the repeated switches in the time period. Many time I was confused about what was going on. Also, I think the book at 400 plus pages was too long. It could have easily been cut down 100 pages or so without losing any of the story. Despite its short-comings, I enjoyed the novel a great deal and thought it had a very good plot and it was compelling enough for me to read in two sittings

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, heart-wrenching, entertaining book., November 6, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Pagan's Father (Hardcover)

Pagan's Father is the best book I've read in quite a long time. It made me cry, laugh, rage with anger, and gave me insomnia! I couldn't put this book down, and devoured it in three days. The only reason why I give it a 9 instead of a 10 is because the author flips back and forth between the past and the present and it was a bit hard to get used it. Other than that, I'd recommend this book to anyone

2.0 out of 5 stars too graphic and disturbing for me, August 14, 2009

By 

Someone's Mom (Chesapeake, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PAGAN'S FATHER- P (Paperback)

This is the novel of a five year old girl named Pagan whose mom passes away. Pagan is the child of an unconventional situation -- her artistic mother always refused to name the father of the child and instead chose to raise her in a household with her best friend, a gay talk show host named Leo. To complicate matters, Candida, the mom, is estranged from her own family, who adopted her when she was quite young. After Candida's death, however, her adopted parents come forward to sue for custody of the child whom Leo never formally adopted. What ensues is a sort of made for television movie novel about charges of sexual abuse, family members with repressed memories of sexual abuse, and a family that seems to have more than its share of deep, dark secrets. Personally, I found the editorializing as well as the characterization of working class, small town people as small-minded and petty to be quite annoying. (The grandparents rename the child Patience, for example, because they're uncomfortable with the connotations of Pagan.) The story would have told itself quite well without all this obvious manipulation of the reader. And as I said, I found it muh too graphic to be an enjoyable read.