2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: David, My David by Eduard Qualls (410-09-12-2016)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

1) The leisurely writing style takes a little getting into, but it's worth the effort. Excellent, painful, and timely. Americans need to read this.

2) This debut is written in an elegiac strain. We have not only a tattooed survivor of the Holocaust but also an AIDS patient and a gay-bashing. I really wanted to like the book a lot. But I couldn't. The author makes some amateur mistakes.Too many exclamation points where none are needed. The prose is extremely purple. Many typos (staunch for stanch, shpiel for spiel, proffered for offered, and so on). Too many clumsy explications of German (or Hebrew) to English. The author assumes knowledge of music (which I have) that the ordinary reader won't have. That would be fine, if it wasn't explicated (at times) or assumed (at others). But I can't hate on this. I see how heartfelt the book is. For this, I love it. And love what he's aiming for. I really love the intention. The execution--not so much. I would love, though, to encourage the author to test his limits and join a writing class. I don't know whether he's young or old. If old, then all praise for the testament. If young, though, please keep writing! Even William Faulkner wrote a bad first book.

David, My David by Eduard Qualls
Gay Historical
Paperback: 372 pages
Publisher: Danaan Press (April 27, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1890000132
ISBN-13: 978-1890000134
Amazon: David, My David
Amazon Kindle: David, My David

"Hatred is the laziest form of cowardice.

Born in 1921 Germany, Eduard Meyer finds that, toward the end of his life's long journey he must, himself, deliver a gift, containing remnants of his arduous life's experiences, that he had promised to his American, Texas-born nephew.

That fulfillment of his promise, in 1995, frames the saga of Herr Meyer's life.

Within this exposition, he details his quest: the early discovery and development of his musical, keyboard prodigy, his early childhood bereavement, his harrowing experiences and traumatically maximal personal losses during the Hitler-time. Ultimately, after struggling through stress and depression, he must impart to that nephew the survivor's wisdom and knowledge that had arisen through his travails, that had carried him through all his trials.

This American nephew must face his own hate-riven era, the US-Reagan AIDS-hysteria of the 1980's. Only too late is Herr Meyer able to deliver the promised gift, the packet.

A story of personal triumph, of family cohesion and understanding, of an abiding faith in indestructible love and devotion, this saga does to hatred—to Anti-Semitism and homophobia, in particular—what Uncle Tom's Cabin did to slavery: it makes hatred intensely, inescapably personal.

A first-person narrative, readers will within it understand viscerally, unforgettably, its characters' forceful assertion that Hatred is the laziest form of cowardice.

Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2016.html