Mr. Loverman

When I saw this title paired with a female author, I wondered if perhaps here was another female author who is offering to enlighten us on the dynamics of coping with age as a gay man. I quickly cast aside the cynicism and thoroughly enjoyed these fascinating and well crafted characters. What we see is how the gayness of a family patriarch, Barry, unleashes all that is good and bad in his extended family. Barry and his wife, Carmel are both highly intelligent, and quick to take advantage of business and career opportunities. As is often the case in real life, people who have this innate ability to move obstacles out of the way and be masters of their own destinies also struggle with their own large egos. When they meet their match, as Barry and Carmel clearly have in their marriage, they live amidst the wreckage of their unyielding personalities. They slog on defiantly, holding their turf, but never having a realistic strategy for escape. The author takes us into the lives of their extended family and we see how those personality traits invest in the offspring and further snarl any attempt Barry and Carmel have at resolving their own transitions to something better. We encounter these characters in a seemingly self-satisfied state of equilibrium where they blame others for their own miseries, and they never miss an opportunity to inflict emotional battery on each other. What the author does so beautifully is to take the story from this classic state of family dysfunction to show us how each character in his or her own way moves on with life. The bonus is that in finding a way out, they also find something of value in each other. There is no single hero among these characters, but you'll come to love them all.

This book is well written in the first person, and a joy to guess what is coming next. I highly recommend it for a pleasurable get-away.

The BBC series was very good, but the book was so much better! The characters have fleshed out beautifully and humorously by the author.

Bernardine Evaristo tells a compelling story about love and deception with humor and grace. She captures the voice of a Caribbean gay man along with his faults and charm. I devoured it from beginning to end and look forward to reading her other works.

Barry is Sexist and I think transphobic and fat phobic and that never changes but I will say that he does get called out numerous times throughout the book. barry is also just judgemental but he is also very funny. Morris seems like a nice guy but that's it. Carmel's mother offered a very stuck (like Barry) view of people's roles based on gender. Towards the end I started to like Maxine's character. she was well educated when it came to gender and race issues. she was also a feminist and very supportive of the LGBT (plus) community. The ending kind of wrapped up too quickly and it felt kind of like a copout.

I found this a very interesting read and one that shows how far we have evolved where same sex relationships are concerned. There is still much work in that area to be done but no longer should anyone fear coming out so much that they waste decades of precious life behind lies. Barrington and Morris finally found happiness.

I read this Novel because it was one of the assigned reading from my book club. I had no idea what the story was about but once I started into it, I quickly became interested as to where the author would take us. The story moves at a steady pace and describes the life of two man who struggle with their identity, how to manage that against a traditional family and find some level of happiness. I found the characters to be interesting, complex and none without some flaws. In fact this is what made them real to me on many levels. I would definitely recommend this book for a club discussion in view of recent trends in the US related to LGBT Equality. Though the story does not take place in the US, I think the struggle for equality is pretty much the same around the world.

One of the best written and most enjoyable stories I’ve read in quite some time. The prose is beautiful with a palpable rhythm, and the characters are multi-dimensional. Loved it.