Wishful Thinking by Martin Gould

Martin Gould self-published his first novel like he, apparently, self-made most of his life; a gay guy who has a very “hollywoodian” perception of life, he steps into each phase of his life like he was rehearsing for a role, with style and lot of preparation. And no, I’m not accusing him of being fake, on the contrary, I can relate to his attitude.

As the author himself “confess” on the final short story collecting in this book, most of the adventures that Elliott Simon is living are probably Martin Gould’s personal experience, and so, I hope for him, he talked with his partner before writing them! Joke aside, of course, in a book where story after story Elliott is basically searching for Mr Right, I was hoping for him that he was lucky; problem is that the stories have not a chronological order, and so, one time Elliott is unhappy and single, the second time he is on the prowl for a doctor husband, and then he is pursuing some sleazy producer, or falling in bed with no string attached British students or handsome dancers; one time he is a theatre critic reporter and soon after he is a travel agent… then the handsome doctor, who is not so good in bed but well, he is a doctor, is almost dumping him, and then instead he is the love of his life and they are together for the past 15 years… all along, Elliott is fat or slim, cute or plain jane, apparently changing skin like a chameleon who is searching the best look for the part!

But how can you not fall for such catastrophic hero? And again, I hope that handsome doctor Ken is really in love with Elliott since apparently he is the only one who can really bear to be the partner of a man who is not really able to take a straight path with his life (and yes, pun intended).

True, at the beginning I had some difficult to understand what was happening, but then I decided to follow the stream of fantasies that was Elliott’s life, trying to understand what it was dream and what it was reality; Martin helped in the end with a closing story that was almost a “how to read this novel” manual, and right that I understood that the reality was more than the dream, and I had a stupid smile thinking at Martin with HIS handsome doctor.

Amazon: Wishful Thinking
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (September 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0595368263
ISBN-13: 978-0595368266

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