This is described as a modern epic poem although I could see little that was distinctively poetic about it apart from the fact that it is written in alternately long and short lines and that punctuation is no guide as to when these lines will end. Some of these lines use words in an interesting and original way but it is mostly narrative.
It is a bildungsroman, chronicling the childhood and young adulthood of Geryon. He is described as a monster, as red, and as having wings. I presume that these features are a way of symbolising the fact that he is different. Nevertheless, he goes to school, albeit reluctantly. He is bullied by his elder brother who also, it is implied, sexually abuses him. As a young gay man he begins an affair with Herakles, a very confident, manly man who treats him as a sex object. Later, he goes to Latin America and studies; he also takes photographs. By chance he re-encounters Herakles who now has a Indian American boyfriend called Ancash (which means Blue in a South American Indian language although the reader is never told this). Herakles wants Geryon and Ancash. The relationship ends in tears.
It is a charming and sensitive portrait of a young gay man.
Selected quotes:
- “It was a typical tango song and she had the throat full of needles you need to sing it.” (31)
- “The hour of six pm flowed through the hotel like a wave. Lamps snapped on and white bedspreads sprang forward.” (32)
- “Herakles’ gaze on him was like a gold tongue. Magma rising.” (33)
- “Herakles liked to make love early in the morning like a sleepy bear taking the lid off a jar of honey.” (34)
September 2025; 147 pages
First published in Canada by Alfred A Knopf in 1998
My Penguin Vintage Classics paperback edition was issued in 2024
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