LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
BOOKED Solid |
Review by Rebecca James |
Edinburgh, by Alexander Chee, 2001
Alexander Chee, in his novel Edinburgh, tackles a topic that is currently looming between gay people and acceptance. The debate over gay priests and pedophiles still occupies the pages of many magazines, journals, and newspapers; they are completely unrelated, but nonetheless linked in the minds of much of society. It is frustrating to realize exactly how many people do not recognize the (enormous) difference between the two. Chee's main character, Fee, explores the impact of pedophilia on his life from childhood to adult as he realizes his own sexuality. Big Eric is Fee's choir director, a married man with a foster child and a new baby. He handpicks a small group of boys with incredible voices and teaches them to practice self-discipline. They spend most of their free time singing with Eric, involved in few other extracurricular activities. The first summer after being picked for the group, Fee is invited on a special retreat for the leaders of each section of the choir. They spend a few days camping with Eric, and it is here that Fee learns about Eric's secret obsession with the young boys he directs. But Fee, who is beginning to discover he is in love with his best friend, does not realize immediately that the sexual acts Eric asks the boys to perform are wrong. Fee is confused because he, too, likes boys. The abuse continues at the retreat for the entire choir that same summer. Then, unexpectedly, Eric's foster son drowns himself in the camp's lake, leading Fee to question the impact of Eric's actions. "I thought I knew what Big Eric was. I thought I knew because I thought it was the same as me. We are both in love with boys. I know what Big Eric watches, now, though, in me. He sees that I know, we are not the same. I did not know before and now I do, and so he watches this knowledge in me, a light moving closer slowly through some faint dark." He understands that Eric's behavior and his own feelings are very different, a perceptive observation for such a young person, especially one that is being abused. His relationship with Eric changes; Eric prefers the same blond boys that Fee does, anyway. Eric continues to take advantage of many of the boys on various choir trips, but eventually is caught. He and his wife are both imprisoned, leaving their baby to be raised by his grandparents. Unfortunately, the damage has been done. Chee follows the small group of boys through Fee's eyes as they grow older. Several of them, including Fee's first love, Peter, commit suicide. Fee manages to escape this fate, but finds himself emotionally lost as he grows older. He loses his voice to puberty, but continues to be plagued with the inability to have a healthy relationship. Even in college, he loves other men that he cannot be with, men that look like a grown-up version of his childhood love, now dead. Fee develops impossible relationships with other lost souls, relationships based on a sex and drug enhanced co-dependency. Hope does eventually arrive as Fee finds pleasure in a man who is, at least temporarily, available to him. Chee shifts the novel's focus and voice between Fee and another young boy, Warden, with a dream-like quality of writing. Slowly, it becomes evident that Warden is the 17 year-old student of the adult Fee. The two develop a connection of sorts; Warden, as he discovers he is gay, is very much like Fee was. What's more, Warden looks a lot like Fee's first love, Peter. It becomes increasingly difficult for Fee, who is happily coupled, to resist the younger boy's crush. He finds himself distracted by the memory of his feelings for Peter, but at the same time repulsed by the idea that he would ever act like Eric. Although Warden is not exactly the child that Fee was at the time of the abuse, the relationship would be wrong. Fairly early on, readers learn that Warden is actually the youngest son of Big Eric. He has grown up without knowing what crime his father committed; the two have had no contact since Big Eric's incarceration. Tension builds in the story as Warden and Fee grow closer to learning the truth about each other as their relationship continues to grow. Fee's character becomes illogical and confused by memories in his past. Chee creates a fiery climax to the novel as the truth emerges and Warden confronts Eric alone. Without exposing the ending, readers are left on a hopeful note in what isalthough darkone of the best novels I read this summer. Truly an excellent example of serious fiction; Chee handles the topic and his gay male characters well. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 12, No. 12, August 23, 2002. |