Is Harvey Dunne? by K.L. Romo

[reviews_and_ramblings]

There is no hero in this story, and for sure Harvey Dunne is not an hero. Maybe heroes are those men whose deaths change forever Harvey’s life, in good and bad.

Till a young age Harvey Dunne knew that he was not like the other boys and for sure he was not like his father. Where his older brother was the right eye of the father, strong and handsome and the perfect sportsman, Harvey was thin and small, he loved playing piano and baking cookies. But he really tried to please his father, without success. Then at 10 years old he meets Warren, the son of divorced parents, and at the beginning of the ’60 this was enough to make him a pariah like Harvey’s inability at sports. Probably there was more that linked them, and an afternoon spent under the rain discovering each other body for the first time let them understand a lot of things, but they were too young and too scared to read more. The afternoon was saved in their memory, and Harvey continued to try to be like the other boys. At the same time when Harvey is finally grown enough to acknowledge his sexuality, Warren is “caught” with another guy, and Harvey witnesses first hand what it means being gay in small town Texas. The consequences are terrible, and Warren is the first victim to pave Harvey’s path towards darkness.

Not only Harvey chooses to deny himself, he also leads towards a life in the most conservative of societies, once that groups together homosexuals and non Caucasian people among the unacceptable. At the same Harvey is not committing suicide and doing it: Harvey, the body, is living, but Harvey the spirit is long ago dead, eve before that first victim, Warren. He is so long ago dead, that neither other victims move him, neither when they are very dear to his heart, and neither when he himself is a victim. Harvey is always ready to help people, to pass along a word of comfort, but he always does that in the shadow, never making a statement, never taking a position.

Harvey is not a daring man, but he is a good man. I don’t think Harvey is the picture of the man of the changing, Harvey is the picture of the father of that man. Harvey is born too long ago to be able to be a main actor, what he could have done, if he was a daring man, was to live his life as homosexual, without marrying, but always in the shadow, in the closet. If he had tried to make a statement with his life, he would have been another victim. Like that instead, he had the change to give birth and raising more caring people, way different from his father, people who probably will change the world.

Is Harvey Dunne? Is not only the story of Harvey, it’s also the story of Warren, who as I said, it’s probably the only real hero, the story of Curtis, who picked up Warren’s legacy, the story of Thomas Quinlan, the other victim that pushed Harvey out of the darkness he fell into after Warren, but also of the two anonymous couple whose bashing will always bear on Harvey’s conscience. This novel is a ride of more than 30 years of LGBT history, and the sadly thing is that a real changing is seen only in the very last years of that ride. It’s plenty sad and tragic, but it’s not without hope, in the end there is light for Harvey and above all for his children.

Amazon: Is Harvey Dunne?: A Novel (Volume 1)

Amazon Kindle: Is Harvey Dunne?: A Novel (Volume 1)

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

Review of Is Harvey Dunne?

[klromo.com (from livejournal.com)]

Thank you so much for your review, Elisa. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read and review my novel. I hope you enjoyed it, and will look forward to hearing from you again! Kirsche (K.L. Romo) kirsche.romo@att.net

Re: Review of Is Harvey Dunne?

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Thank to you Kirsche for stopping by. I saw it's a first volume, so I will look forward to the other books. Elisa