Love and Other Ruins
Karen X. Tulchinsky
If Woody Allen were a lesbian, Love and Other Ruins is the kind of novel he would film. Set in the energetic (and tragic) gay scenes of Toronto and San Francisco, this exuberant novel follows the adventures of Nomi Rabinovitch and her AIDS-afflicted cousin Henry. Their wacky Jewish families, including Henry’s father, Solly, a small-time mobster, are lovingly etched and hysterically funny. Whether depicting the perils of lesbian phone sex when you have call waiting (and your mother on the other line) or describing the Millennium New Year’s Eve bash at which everyone, sequined to the gills, dresses like Liberace, Tulchinsky gives good humour. Even her list of an AIDS treatment’s side effects is funny: ‘joint pain, fatigue, taste perversion. I mean, what exactly is taste perversion? Does it mean if I go on the drugs I’ll trade in my tasteful Hockney original for Elvis on black velvet?’
Chapters alternate between Nomi’s struggles with a long-distance love affair and Henry’s struggle with illness. Meanwhile, they and all their friends attempt to prove a believable conspiracy theory in which AIDS began as a U.S. government experiment. The book’s only shortcoming is that both the first-person voices (Nomi and Henry) sound exactly the same. But there are enough other distinctive bit players to keep Love and Other Ruins rollicking along. –Mark Frutkin
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Details
| ISBN | 1551925540 |
| Genre | Canadian Eh; Fiction; Jewish Interest |
| Copyright Date | 2002 |
| Publication Date | 19-Apr-02 |
| Publisher | Raincoast Books |
| Format | Trade Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 320 |
| Series | Nomi Rabinovitch |
| # in Series | 2 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| BookID | 7598 |
