Eddie's Desert Rose by Vincent Meis

[reviews_and_ramblings]

My first question upon opening this book was: is it a gay novel? Eddie, the gay character who with all rights make this a work of gay fiction, is already dead. All the words we heard by him are through the journal his brother Dave is reading to help him understand why his more than beloved brother is dead. Eddie’s is dead but is voice is strong through all the novel.

At first I thought we were leading into a tale of forbidden love between Dave and Eddie, the relationship between the two brothers was strong, almost symbiotic, so much that they were planning to go an live together along with Dave’s wife, Maura, in the same house once they were back to California from Saudi Arabia. But Eddie doesn’t make it and Dave seems inconsolable. Dave is searching a reason for Eddie’s death, but I think that he is truly searching for absolution.

The strong bond between Dave and Eddie, that led me to think there was something between them, is not of sexual nature, or at least not the easiest sexual nature a reader could think. There is something dark, and tragic, in both Dave and Eddie’s past that forged that bond so strong, and that is also the reason why Dave is willing to put in danger not only his life but also that of his wife Maura, to find the true about Eddie. It’s like if with Eddie dead, Dave has not more reason to live.

We will arrive to understand why Dave felt responsible for Eddie in a way more than a normal older brother should be. We will also arrive to understand why Dave needs a reason to continue to live, maybe the proof that, even if Eddie is dead so young, he has lived and loved, at least a little bit. Dave needs to know that Eddie’s life had a meaning, because trough that meaning Dave can give to his own life a meaning too.

This is the story of Dave and Maura, so maybe it’s not really a Gay fiction, but it’s also the story of Eddie, and when Eddie talks through his journals, he is a wonderful character and a strong narrative voice, so maybe this is, in the end, also his story, and then a gay novel.

Amazon: Eddie's Desert Rose
Amazon Kindle: Eddie's Desert Rose
Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (August 10, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1463746814
ISBN-13: 978-1463746810

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