A Feast of Peonies (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781599970301)

This novel is written in the second person singular in a way that gives it more immediacy than the first person, and certainly more than the third. It is set in present day Chicago. The protagonist is a middle-aged black man, Ashanti Ra, who, because he is on the run from the law accused of a crime he did not commit, is forced to live with a young Puerto Rican gay man, Phillip a.k.a. Phyllis, whom he met at a Latin bar a couple of days earlier. He was at the bar because he had just had an argument with his white girlfriend of several years. She wanted to get married; he did not.The story concerns Ashanti's slow realization that, although he himself is not gay, he does care for Phyllis, and eventually accepts Phyllis as a lover.The theme of the book is that things in life happen, often with no explanation or apparent reason, and the story is laced with philosophical and religious musings.There is a subplot obliquely told in alternate chapters of Ashanti's sexual abuse as a boy by an older male cousin. Much of the protagonist's childhood characterization is revealed in these chapters.This novel is for adults only, as some scenes depict explicit sex.

Author: Larry Redmond
ISBN-10: 1599970309
ISBN-13: 9781599970301
Publisher: Penknife Press
Language: English
Published: 09/01/2003
Pages: 170
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.39d