Pacific Nights by Lynn Lorenz

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The starting point of this novella reminded me an old Italian movie "Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August" which was remade by Madonna in recent times, but I had in mind the old version. Two men, from different upbringing and education are brought together in a Pacific Island during WWII; their only purpose is to watch for Japanese movement in the sky and on the sea, and to tap into their signal.

Mike Dabrowski, low-class sergeant of Polish origin, is conscript for the mission to avoid the carcer: he was caught in the act doing an illicit cigars black market; actually it was not a so bad crime, and I believe that this only gave to his superior the right excuse to force him to an unusual mission like the one to babysit a snotty professor for three months. Mike is not the classical hero, strong and essential, he is more a good for the moment hero, one that do the best he could day after day, without planning the future. It's not even since he doesn't believe to have a future, it's more that he has never thought so far. Mike is not a bad man, but truth be told he doesn't excel in the mind compartment. Anyway he has some preconceptions on love and what is right and what is wrong, mainly due to his catholic upbringing, but he is also ready to let them apart when presented with the chance to taste the forbidden fruit, sex with a man. Mike is not even new to have feelings for a man, when he stops to think about it, he reminds his strong youth friendship with a guy who resembles a bit his professor.

James Hamilton is a Jewish mathematician who unlucky him knows the Japanese language, and since he is also a conscientious objector, he is offered with a chance to avoid the military service: doing his time in a Pacific Island translating Japanese codes. Actually of James we don't know so much, Mike starts from the beginning insinuating about his sexual preferences, but James does nothing to back that idea. He feigned no interest whatsoever for Mike, letting the man boil in his broth till the moment he is him to make the first move; at that point, James unveils to be the cleverer of the two, and obtains the things how he like them... Mike is quite played around, and I don't believe he realizes it. But all in all it's Mike's character that shine, and James remains a bit undertone, we don't really know for sure his reasons and dreams.

Putting the two men in a desert island easier a bit the author who can avoid almost all the implications of an homosexual relationship in the '40, if not for the ending that, truth be told, let me a bit perplexed... I wouldn't mind to see the two deal with the society. But I believe this is not the purpose of this novella, above all since the length of the book doesn't allow it.

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Cover Art by Marci Gass