Stray [Paperback]

Sheri Joseph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

A man is torn between his perfect wife and a fascinating young man in an unconventional, inescapable love triangle. Thirty-year-old Kent McKutcheon has come to Atlanta with little ambition beyond his earnest desire to grow up and be a good person. But after a year of contented, stable existence with his Mennonite wife, Maggie, a defense attorney with a passion for social justice, Kent has failed to eradicate his private longing for Paul, the lover who abandoned him three years before. When an accidental meeting resuscitates their affair, the passion they share privately soon threatens to destroy the public persona each man has created. Paul is a promising acting student who is unhappily bound to another man, a much older, ailing college professor who is failing to provide the love and sense of family which Paul now realizes he wants. A former wild-child, he craves the aura of home and stability that Kent seems to have with his wife. Frustrated with Kent s guilt-ridden angst and repeated efforts to end their affair, and eager to find the sense of love and comfort which seems otherwise unavailable in his world, Paul pushes closer to Kent s marriage, ultimately developing a fixation on Maggie herself. In a single night that slips out of control, the volatile mix of emotions leads to murder, and all three characters are suddenly more involved with each other s lives than they could have foreseen, and none can hope to escape unscathed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Short story writer Joseph's first novel begins with a weekend tryst in Florida in which barely-out-of-college Paul Foster wants his lover, Kent McKutcheon (who is nearly a decade older and married), to acknowledge his feelings and homosexuality. Kent, however, is annoyed with Paul for pressuring him and with himself for his infidelity. The feelings fester as, back in Atlanta where both men live, Paul returns to his cancer-stricken former professor and jealous sugar daddy, Bernard Falk, while Kent goes home to his saintlike Mennonite public defender wife, Maggie. Kent and Paul continue their affair, and Paul, wanting to get closer to Kent, befriends Maggie. After an awkward dinner for three at Kent and Maggie's, Kent, furious with Paul, reveals their relationship to Bernard, which provokes a violent confrontation between Paul and Bernard. The next day, Bernard is found murdered and Paul is the main suspect. Maggie, who has an inexplicable crush on Paul, takes him on as a client. Unfortunately, the murder mystery plot lacks urgency, and Joseph's portrayal of homosexuality hinges on the bedroom, while homophobes—cops, especially—rarely rise above stereotype. The aftermath of the imploding love triangle may surprise. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Resurrecting characters from her previous work, Bear Me Safely Over (2002), Joseph tells an intense story about an unconventional love triangle. Kent had his heart broken by the hard-partying Paul and has since married Maggie, a gentle Mennonite with a strong sense of social justice. He tells himself that Paul never loved him, that Maggie makes him a better man, that he is not gay. Then he runs into Paul by chance at the library, and they resume their love affair, though this time it is complicated by Kent's overwhelming need for secrecy. But when Kent fears that his need for Paul will destroy him, he breaks it off. Paul, however, determines to insinuate himself into the couple's life, first through Maggie's volunteer work, then through his need for her legal expertise when he is charged with the murder of the older man who has been supporting him. What starts as a slow-paced, angst-ridden emotional journey turns into a swiftly moving, much more compelling tale of reconciliation and redemption as the lovers are forced to face their flawed perceptions head-on. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (February 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596922702
• ISBN-13: 978-1596922709
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,857,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sheri Joseph's latest novel is Stray, winner of the Grub Street National Book Prize. An unconventional love triangle leads to murder in this tale set in Atlanta. Two of Stray's central characters also appear in Joseph' first book, Bear Me Safely Over, a cycle of stories about two Georgia families being joined by marriage, which was a Book Sense 76 selection in both hardcover and paperback.

Joseph was awarded a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for the first chapter of her next novel, currently in progress, which is set in Costa Rica.

Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals including The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Shenandoah, Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner and Other Voices and in the anthologies Birds in the Hand (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux) and After O'Connor: Stories from Contemporary Georgia (University of Georgia Press). Her work has been a finalist for the Townsend Prize, Lambda award, and the National Magazine Award, among others. A resident of Atlanta, she teaches in the creative writing program at Georgia State University and serves as fiction editor of Five Points.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Story!!, October 25, 2008

By 

Shooting Stars Magazine (Ky,Ma,) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stray (Paperback)

Paul left Kent. Kent got married to Maggie. Paul and Kent meet again. Kent tries to leave. Paul befriends Maggie. And trouble ensues.

By trying to get close to Kent through Maggie, Paul and Maggie end up starting their own kind of relationship. And Kent? He has no clue who or what he wants. As this three-part affair continues on, things get more mixed up and when someone is murdered, all the careful lies begin to unravel.

Stray started out slow for me, but it soon became very interesting and hard to put down. The relationships between all the characters involved felt real and well-done. Paul and Kent were a couple that never really seemed to have stability, and Kent soon found that in Mennonite Maggie. Paul, however, continued life by hooking up with random guys, even with one of his acting professors, Bernard Falk. Bernard invites Paul to move in with him, but with the passion in their relationship gone on Paul's side and Bernard dying of cancer, it's no wonder that Paul was so eager to welcome Kent back into his life.

Being the youngest out of the three (Kent, Paul, and Maggie), Paul was definitely my favorite. He wanted a family and someone to love, and feeling that way didn't allow him to just let Kent go and made him search out Maggie, the one who had Kent.

The book showed all sides of the characters, letting you in and allowing you to see what they were thinking and their various motives behind their actions. Maggie always gives back and can't say no, but what does that get her into? And how is her past affecting her future?
Kent misses Paul, who was the one that left, and still loves him, but he does love Maggie too. He isn't gay; it's just Paul.
Paul wants somewhere to go. Someone to love. He's growing up in some ways, but he can't in others.

Stray is a great story of love lost and love found and the many complications that occur when lives become intertwined.




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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful characters, February 25, 2008

By 

book.of.the.moment "reviewer" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stray (Hardcover)

This book far surpassed my expectations; after reading the book jacket, I expected a story of a classic love triangle. Bob loves Mary but Mary loves Jack you know? While there is an traingular element to "Stray," its so much more than that.

The story revolves around three characters: Kent, the married musician who has never truly gotten over Paul, a lover from his past who just walked out on him one day. Paul, the young actor, who can't commit or take anything too seriously, and finally, Maggie, Kent's kind hearted wife, who unwittingly gets stuck in the middle.

Kent is pretty content with his life. His job is good, his marriage is good...life is good. One day he unexpectedly runs into Paul, and the inner turmoil starts to run rampant. Paul and Kent begin a passionate affair, all the while Kent makes it clear that he is happy with his wife and has no intentions of leaving. Out of curiousity and jealousy, Paul inserts himself into Maggie's life. The two become fast friends, and Maggie comes to care for Paul immensely; all the while not knowing that Paul is also sleeping with her husband.

In addition to the emotional rollercoaster of a plot, there's a bit of a murder mystery thrown in as well. Paul lives with an older man, Bernard, who is dying of cancer. Paul returns from the club one night to find Bernard dead, and himself the prime suspect. While this aspect of the plot does keep the story moving forward, and the relationships developing, its not a crucial part.

The strongest part of this book is the author's ability to develop her characters. The development isn't rushed, and each and every detail that we learn of the character adds to the story and makes the whole thing come together. Joseph has created three very different, very likeable, very real characters, and they are what makes this story a good one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written tale of a unique love triangle, July 6, 2007

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stray (Hardcover)

A friend had strongly recommended this, Ms. Joseph's first novel. When it arrived, it looked a bit daunting, coming in at 446 pages (not 375, as listed on Amazon). But, as I had been told, it is written so well, with realistic flawed but likeable characters, that the reading went very quickly.

In brief, "Stray" tells the story of a love triangle, between a married couple in their early 30's, and the husband's 21 year old former male lover. Paul re-enters Kent's life after an absence of three years, creating a spark between them that soon has Kent sneaking away from Maggie (who is a busy attorney working as a public defender) to spend time with him, although he still makes it clear to Paul that their relationship is over and nothing can become of their trysts. Paul would like to put it behind him as well, but he never stopped loving Kent, and hoping for some kind of miracle that would bring them back together.

Desperate to find out more about his "competition", Paul worms his way into their lives, by befriending Maggie and volunteering to help at the thrift store she operates for her Mennonite church. Maggie invites him home with her to "meet" Kent, who immediately fears that Paul will reveal their earlier and extramarital affair, but Paul simply wants to be a part of both of their lives. When Paul is arrested, following the unexplained murder of his former roommate and benefactor, whom he met as his college acting professor, Maggie jumps in to defend him against the charge, eventually providing him with a place to live, courtesy of her church. As is clearly inevitable, Maggie finally manages to connect the dots and finds out the truth about Paul's relationship with Kent, which puts the forgiving nature of her church's teachings to the ultimate test.

Some novel twists and turns shade this as significantly more interesting than the typical "love triangle" story. Lots of peripheral characters who don't seem to have a role at first, and would have liked to have seen it at least 50-75 pages shorter. But a great, captivating read for a long vacation during these hot summer days. Four stars out of five.