The Beloved Son: A Novel [Paperback]

When Jay Quinn is good, he is terrific and when he's not so good he's still pretty good. Karl, 52, and his family visit Karl's parents in Boca Raton at the insistence of his father. Upon arrival, Karl's 40-year-old gay brother explains that their mother is rapidly descending into dementia. The story is about the extended family's interpersonal relationships and how they cope with the mother's news. As usual for Quinn, in The Beloved Son his characters are interesting and his rich detailing of life in South Florida greatly adds to the pleasure. The "not-so-good" is that at times the story drags. Set in the course of a single weekend, it sometimes feels as if it is moving along in real time. By the way, there is also no sex. Overall, however, this is a very good tale of dealing with adversity and in the process rediscovering what it means to be a family.

I want to begin by saying that Jay Quinn is one of my favorite writers. Few authors so beautifully create characters well define and beloved that I am sad when the story ends. I wanted the book to continue because I became emotionally attached to the point that I don't want to end the time I had to be with them. The Beloved Son is one of his best.
The problem that I have with this excellent story is with the person responsible for the final edit. Is it me or did any of the others who reviewed this book notice that on at least two occasions that paragraphs were repeated on the same page? At first I thought that I had just lost my place on the page, but then I would look and there was the same paragraph word for word.
Don't ask me to give specific page numbers because I didn't stop my reading to make notes, nor do I want to wade back into a beautiful story with my focus on printed errors.
I guess my surprise comes with being the only reviewer who seemed to notice.

I am currently reading the new Michael Thomas Ford book, Changing Tides. The irony is that both Ford and Quinn, popular "gay" novelists,( don't stone me for stating such) have new works that have gay "minor characters." You could argue with Changing Tides, but he doesn't come to a realization that he might possibly be gay until the last 40 or 50 pages.
The vast majority of both books deal with experiences of people who constitute the masses and who already are covered by every other novelist well more than enough.
I enjoyed both men's previous works because I could count on their creating solid gay character who I could identify with in the majority of the story. If either of these two authors were to take one more small step away from characters who enhance my love of gay fiction, the gay characters would be lost or ignored as much as we are in society. If you believe that I just said that the books must be gay oriented, reread my first four paragraphs.

Also, I know that this review could use an editor, but then I'm not an author, never claimed to be, and I don't receive royalties.

You may disagree, but I am allowed at least an opinion in this country, for now.

At 52, Karl Preston is a successful family man, living with his career-minded wife and adult daughter in an affluent town home community in North Carolina. When he gets an urgent call from his father for all of them to come down to his parents' home in Florida, his momentary displeasure with the interruption in his busy life is overshadowed by a concern that something is wrong. He wonders if it is a health problem for one of his parents, or perhaps regarding his decade younger brother Sven, who lives near his parents with his life partner of 26 years, Rob.

Karl and Sven had not been in touch much, since Karl went away to college in North Carolina when Sven was still a little boy. Most of this was because Karl was simply a busy man, but also due to an emotional distance that developed when Sven had first come out as gay when he was a teenager. His old-school, conservative father, Frank, did not accept his younger son's sexuality as a given, and blamed it on the coddling of his mother, Annike. But Karl's daughter, Melanie, had grown close to her uncles Sven and Rob, visiting them many times, and wasn't aware of any problem with them.

When they get down to Florida, they learn that their summoning was to be told that Frank and Annike were "downsizing" their lives, moving to a nearby retirement community, and wanted to offer Sven, Karl and his family any mementos from their home before most of it goes to charity. They also learn that the main reason for the change is that Annike is gradually losing her grasp on reality due to senior dementia, and it is likely that, within a year or less, she may need ongoing custodial care, which can be provided at a different wing of the retirement community. Up to now, Sven has been the primary caregiver when his mother had her increasingly-frequent bouts of forgetfulness and childlike regressions and, although thankful for his help, Frank also was somewhat jealous of the intimacy they shared, and channeled his anger at the situation unfairly by picking on Sven. The time constraints in dealing with his mother also have affected Sven's relationship with his lover, who is taking some time apart to reassess their priorities.

Karl goes through a myriad of emotions in his few days in Florida, first feeling like an outsider among his own family. He witnesses one of his mother's regressive episodes, during which Sven has to treat her like a little girl in order to get her cleaned up and take her medication, and is incredulous that Frank mercilessly picks on Sven for doing what he could not do himself. Speaking with Rob, Karl also realizes that Sven's devotion to his mother's needs is the main force causing problems in their relationship, and he encourages them to spend some time alone while his family steps in to help his parents. Karl is also dealing with a minor medical problem that makes him wonder about his own future health, and reacquaints himself with his Catholic upbringing when his mother insists that the entire family accompany her to mass that Sunday.

As in his previous novels, Quinn shows his skill as a master storyteller, spinning realistic, vivid characterizations in a framework of a sad/happy story that strikes an emotional chord with his readers. Though a bit verbose in places, the overall effect is like visiting with a family that you have known all of your life, and you feel the love as they deal with reconciling responsibility with the reality of what is inevitable as life continues and time takes its toll. Beautifully conceived and written. Five stars out of five.

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