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4.0 out of 5 stars
The final chapter brings one more star to the novel, Jul 15 2004
David Leavitt hit me when I was reading his acclaimed The Lost Languages of the Crane. Since then, everybody has been looking for a similar book. Yet, there is none. What I have observed from Leavitt's fictional works is that the plot and drama is rather thin. His previous work, Martin Bauman, personally, is a change in style and plot - but that does not work. As for his latest work, Body of Jonah Boyd, the same old problem persists.Before I read the last chapter of the book, I was confused with the ambivalence of the voice in the novel. The first half of the story was told by the protagonist, Denny. Later on, after several secrets were revealed, the chapters were dominated by the mysterious figure, Ben who happened to have stolen Jonah Boyd's notebooks and plagiarise the content as if it was his own. So, who is telling the story? Who is the centre of the book? The final chapter gave me the answer. The last chapter gives the story a touch of metafiction, and here, I am not able to tell so much or else the joy of reading this novel will be completely gone. Yet, I believe the way Leavitt ends the novel somehow heals a lot of defects found by the readers in the book. However, there are still weaknesses in the plot. The marriage of Ben and Denny near the end of the novel is unhinted and it comes a bit too artificial for the sake of the plot. The use of 'brain tumour' to solve every dramatic crisis seems to me a little bit irreponsible of the writer. The potential lesbianism between Denny and Ben's mother is there, but is not developed, at all. In general, this novel plays a great deal of metafictive techniques and centres too much on the plot of how an unsuccessful writer steals the work of a successful one. All other subplots, the romance and other human relationships, are not handled dramatically and fully enough. If you aim at a fast read and do not have much expectations on the plot, Leavitt's new book will be your choice. At least, after reading the last chapter, you may whisper, "That all makes sense in the end."
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Swift-Reading Charmer, Jul 6 2004
The prolific Leavitt offers another clever turn on the literary life (after MARTIN BAUMANN and ARKANSAS), this time told in the utterly engaging voice of a middle-aged woman who, throughout her career as a secretary, has more artistic impact on the works she 'types' and 'transcribes' than one might assume. Leavitt again explores the tricky nature of authorship and literary ownership, but TBOJB is also infused with some of the themes that enriched his earliest works: the psychological power of family homes, the intrigues of suburban life. Leavitt's prose style here is particularly elegant: the sentences move swiftly and are not clotted with overdescription like so many of today's acclaimed 'literary' novels. Leavitt handles serious issues with deft humor and charm; it reminded me that, even when they deal with Major Themes, truly enjoyable novels are first and foremost about good storytelling.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Will There Never Be Another FAMILY DANCING?, Jul 3 2004
When David Leavitt published FAMILY DANCING in the l980's, I was convinced that he would be our next great gay writer as that book of stories was so brilliantly written. I have read everything that Mr. Leavitt has written since; from where I sit, nothing has measured up to his first book. THE BODY OF JONAH BOYD is no exception. I really wish I liked his fiction more. He seems to be a terribly nice person, certainly has a flair for language and often makes profound statements about the world in general. He, moreover, is most adept at character development, piling on detail after detail to make his people come alive. Here we even know what kind of purse one woman carries and what she has in it, for example. But in the end I find most of his characters not very interesting. In this latest novel, they all apparently are heterosexual. (Perhaps Mr. Leavitt is aiming for a larger audience here.) The narrator is a "fat" secretary (Denny)-- that's her description of her body, not mine-- who jumps into bed with married older men faster than she can type--certainly a little difficult to fathom. Then there's the writer who either does or doesn't get his works accepted by THE NEW YORKER, a recurring dilemma for many of Leavitt's characters.What this novel does have going for it is that parts of it read almost like a decent mystery since Jonah Boyd's novel manuscript is missing.Yes, this book is a book is a book about books. But it has little to do with the brillance of Mr. Leavitt's early work. Finally, whoever wrote the blurb on the inside front of the dust jacket said that this book is a tribute to "the sisterhood of secretaries." Surely he or she cannot be serious.
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