A Feast of Peonies
by Obi (9780974194905)

 This novel is written in the second person singular in a way that gives it more immediacy than the first person, and certainly more than the third. It is set in present day Chicago. The protagonist is a middle-aged black man, Ashanti Ra, who, because he is on the run from the law accused of a crime he did not commit, is forced to live with a young Puerto Rican gay man, Phillip a.k.a. Phyllis, whom he met at a Latin bar a couple of days earlier. He was at the bar because he had just had an argument with his white girlfriend of several years. She wanted to get married; he did not. The story concerns Ashanti's slow realization that, although he himself is not gay, he does care for Phyllis, and eventually accepts Phyllis as a lover. The theme of the book is that things in life happen, often with no explanation or apparent reason, and the story is laced with philosophical and religious musings. There is a subplot obliquely told in alternate chapters of Ashanti's sexual abuse as a boy by an older male cousin. Much of the protagonist's childhood characterization is revealed in these chapters. This novel is for adults only, as some scenes depict explicit sex.

USD $14.95

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