the kingdom of sand a novel andrew holleran

Reviewers have described his subsequent books as beautiful, exhilarating, seductive, haunting, and bold. Holleran’s first novel, Dancer from the Dance, is widely regarded as a classic work of gay literature. All the while, he shares reflections on illness and death that are at once funny and heartbreaking.

He distracts himself with sexual encounters at the video porn store and visits to Walgreens. Now Earl’s health is failing, and our increasingly misanthropic narrator must contend with the fact that once Earl dies, he will be completely alone. Earl is the only person in town with whom he can truly be himself. For the last twenty years, he has been visiting Earl to watch classic films together and critique the neighbors. With gallows humor, he chronicles the indignities of growing old in a small town.Īt the heart of the novel is the story of his friendship with Earl, whom he met cruising at the local boat ramp. The nameless narrator is a gay man who moved to Florida to look after his aging parents-during the height of the AIDS epidemic-and has found himself unable to leave after their deaths. The Kingdom of Sand is a poignant tale of desire and dread-Andrew Holleran’s first new book in sixteen years. One of the great appeals of Florida has always been the sense that the minute you get here you have permission to collapse. This sad, beautiful book captures the sensations Holleran’s characters are chasing - as well as the darkness that inevitably comes for them, and us.' -Mark Athitakis, The Los Angeles Times 'It’s rare to find fiction that takes this kind of dying of the light as its subject and doesn’t make its heroes feel either pathetic or polished with a gleam of false dignity. Now, at almost 80 years of age, he has produced a novel remarkable for its integrity, for its readiness to embrace difficult truths and for its complex way of paying homage to the passing of time.' -Colm Toibin, The New York Times Book Review in 1978 Holleran wrote the quintessential novel about gay abandon, the sheer, careless pleasure of it: Dancer From the Dance. ' new novel is all the more affecting and engaging because the images of isolation and old age here are haunted. ONE OF THE LONDON TIMES' TOP TWENTY-SIX FICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE PICK

The kingdom of sand a novel andrew holleran