Equal Affections (Paperback)

by David Leavitt (Author) "THE FIRST TIME Louise thought she was dying she called Danny and April to the side of her hospital bed and said, "Listen, kids, there's..." (more)
Key Phrases: interest scale, burn unit, New York, Tommy Burns, New Haven (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Leavitt's second novel follows the four members of the Cooper family through the mother's illness and death. "In understated, perfectly targeted prose, Leavitt illuminates the ordinariness of his characters, giving them and their sorrows and joys a long-lasting afterglow," observed PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
The latest novel by the author of Family Dancing (8/84) and The Lost Language of Cranes (9/15/84) examines the complex relationships of the Cooper family. Family matriarch Louise Cooper, mother of gay siblings April and Danny, suffers one medical malady after another, while Nat, her computer scientist husband, enjoys a long-term affair on the side. As Louise's condition deteriorates, tensions mount and family members attempt to define and justify their conflicting feelings. Leavitt's plot twists and turns around various relationshipsof Nat and Lousie, Danny and his lover Walter, Louise and her polio-crippled sister Eleanorand April's decision to have a baby while maintaining her tremendous appeal as a star of women's music. A compassionate, moving work.Kevin M. Roddy, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1989 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: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (September 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135315
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135315
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,359,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Something Deeper..., August 8, 2004

By	Kristin Miyagishima "Self-proclaimed bookworm" (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Equal Affections (Hardcover)

My fellow students and I were assigned this book in an American Studies class. While I have read a great deal of books--have been enthralled by a multitude of works--I keep going back to this book.

It's not that the characters in Equal Affections do extraordinary things, or that the situations presented are extraordinary; what attracts me to this book is because who and what are depicted are real. David Leavitt paints a picture of many issues that affect contemporary American society. Suffice it to say that he even depicts thoughts and opinions of generations past. While his characters' struggles and experiences may not apply to ALL Americans and/or their families, David Leavitt produces images, ideals, ideologies, anxieties, and other issues that continue to play an inherent role in the shaping and structuring of contemporary American culture.

While discussing this novel in my class, I was struck by how much of an impact this book had on my classmates. We each felt the need to discuss our own opinions and thoughts, including factual personal experiences, pertaining to the characters and situations in the novel: April's lesbianism and pregnancy, Walter's infidelity, Danny's demeanor, Louise's illness and her struggle for identity and independence, Nat's affair with Lillian Two-Names. In my opinion, a qualifying characteristic of a good novel lies in what kind of response (not exactly quanitity, but quality) it can provoke.

Although there are some issues in the book that I would have liked David Leavitt to explore more thoroughly (such as April's sexuality and her response to it), I believe that this is a very good novel. To me, David Leavitt conveys the fact that Americans' lives are not "perfect." He tells us that nothing can be exactly permanent, whether in sexuality, love, the stipulations that previous generations and society have placed upon us, and even society itself.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story told with dull writing, February 17, 1999

By A Customer

Thud, thud, thud went the dialogue; clang, clang, clang went the prose.

I liked the story quite a bit. It was rich with possibilities: a mother who won't stop dying as she questions her religion toward the end; a yuppified gay couple (one of whom is her son) that lives in the suburbs; a lesbian-questioning-pregnant women's music performer (the mother's daughter); a little bit of online sex; a sympathetic yet philandering father/husband. Yet it didn't work. The dialogue is so dreary, so heavy, that it reminded me of high school creative writing class. Page 244, in which April finds her way to New York and meets her brother in the airport exemplifies simplistic, sterile storytelling with truly horrendous, flat dialogue. Why can't Leavitt do his somewhat gripping story and genuinely touching plot more good than that? Oy. This novel needs a writer.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 50 / 50 Chance You'll Enjoy It, October 31, 1998

By	Maurice Williams "mauricewms" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Not a bad read. The storyline kept me intersted; however I'm not sure if that was because I kept thinking that there wourld be some really profound emotional connection with Danny and/or April on the next page. . . ., but it never happened. By the time I finished the book I felt neither cheated out of my time nor extremely rewarded for the effort. We'll see how the next book by Leavitt works for me.