aprii 20.200L» Ju s t o u t 3 g
l e s
L
e a
Something fon everyone
NEWMAN
A book to match every orientation
read s from
a u th or o f Heather Has Two Mommies
Girls Will Be Girls
Sat, April 28, 7:30pm
IN OTHER
W
O
R
D
WOMEN'S BOOKS
AND RESOURCES S
A f f in it y
by Sarah Waters. Riverhead Books,
2000; $24.95 hardcover.
ithout a doubt, Affinity
achieves the same excel-
1 lence as Sarah Waters’
magnificent literary dehut, Tip
ping the Velvet. Once again, her
intriguing tale comes to us in
great style.
Awash with beautiful lan
guage, Affinity presents a vivid
experience of Victorian Britain,
disclosing a deep, grim underbel
ly. The tremendous carnal sensu
ality o f Tipping the Velvet is prac
tically impossible to duplicate in
Millbank Prison:
“At the top of the tower, in a
bright, white, circular room,
filled with windows Miss Haxby
has her office...for the tower is
set at the center of the pentagon
yards, so that the view from it is
all of the wards and barred win
dows that make up the interior
face of the women’s building.”
The mechanics of this tale
require a different approach,
resulting in an intricate spiritual
seduction between the protago
nists. Bom into London’s upper
class, Margaret is a virtual pris
oner of the family house. A
mental breakdown following a broken heart
prompts her to seek therapeutic diversion in
the women’s ward of Millbank Prison. This
dank, gray underworld inhabited by thieves
and murderers conceals one tiny splash of
color, which Margaret feels drawn to through
an unexplainable sense o f affinity:
“As I watched, she put the flower to her lips,
and breathed upon it, and the purple of the
petals gave a quiver and seemed to glow.. .here
was a single spot of color, that seemed to have
come upon the canvas by mistake.”
The object of Margaret’s sympathy is the
ingenious Selina Dawes, a spiritual medium
convicted of fraud and assault after a session
that got severely out of hand. Selina manifests
a similar feeling of connectedness to Margaret,
displaying an uncanny awareness of her most
private thoughts and of her life outside the
walls. The beauty and mystery emtxxiied by
Selina soon turn into obsession, reinstalling
passion and a sense of purpose into Margaret’s
life. Temporarily, that is.
This exquisite mystery is bom out of the
blended journals of the lady and the spiritualist.
It is an enthralling story that seamlessly jumps
back and forth between present and past, talk
ing in two different voices, rendering intertwin
ing points of view. Whereas Selina’s account
covers life prior to Millbank, Margaret’s mainly
focuses on the relationship with Selina.
The power of this captivating work lies in
its clever, irreverent play with the real and the
supernatural. Boldly, it offers little to hold
onto. Even the protagonist’s writing can he lau
danum induced, thereby possibly blurring the
boundaries of fictional reality an extra notch.
Affinity relies heavily on a human craving
for magic and blind faith and is not afraid to use
and/or abuse that. Its strong undercurrent of
spiritual manipulation and seduction, of power
and possession ultimately stretches from the
t
(D
CO O)
E
CN O ooo
O
o ' O ■g
OC. i o
£
O CM 0
cO -c
73
C CM o
i ç
o
O
n
£
o
X
LU
CO
CO
co
V__
2
Ô o
CL
m
*
$
£
DOWNTOWN AT 927 SW OAK
The NW’s best selection o f gay erotica, including:
•Every erotic photo book and art book in print
• Every book o f erotic fiction and nonfiction
•Foreign and domestic mags, always at 10% off
•Vintage physique photos and magazines
11-6 MON-SAT, 12-6 SUN, 226-8141
Corner of Sandy Blvd. & NE 64th
3106 NE 64th
Portland, OR 97213
Gifts
for Romance
in an
Elegant Setting
\%*4 My
503 - 280-8080
www. tel epor t. com / -p lea s u re
A Place of Romantic Invention
minds of the characters to that of the reader.
A tasty yet treacherous read; heware the
twists.
— Els Debbaut
G u e s s A g a in : S h o r t S t o r ie s
by Bernard. Cooper. Simon & Schuster, 2000;
$21 hardcover.
emard Coopers award-winning short sto
ries have been printed in every kind of
magazine and anthology. But this is the
first time some of them have been collected
into a single volume.
It was damn well worth the wait. Guess
Again contains verve, quirk, wit plus robust,
meaty insights into the nature of gay— and
occasionally not-so-gay— life in the United
States.
Coopers writing doesn’t always center
around being queer, although many of his char-
' acters are. Instead, he looks at the world sur
rounding gay life and draws a vivid, personal
picture. And as queer writers sometimes ignore
the presence of a second gender in our lives
(unless it’s a parent), Cooper includes all kinds
of people, the kind of people you might find in
your life.
Take, for instance, the first story, “Night
Sky.” There isn’t a homo in sight. Yet he draws
a portrait of obsession that is universal.
I mean, I can’t he the only queer who want
ed to spy on my ex-lover with a telescope.
"Night Sky” is a story about the way desire
hopscotches our best prospect for love in favor
of the one we can’t have.
The rest of the collection is queer enough
for all of us and includes some really extraordi
nary writing. “Graphology”— the story of a wife
who, upon her husband’s death, learns of his
clandestine homosexual escapades— should
shake up any closeted married man.
“Intro to Acting” might he the slyest, most
W here
the
S ubarus
are !
SUBARU
Í h e Beauty o f All Wheel Drive.
www.wentworth.subaru.com
RATES AS LOW AS
ON A LL 2001
*on approved credit
107 SE Grand • 4 Blocks South of the Convention Center • 503-232-2000