Best Gay Contemporary General Fiction (3° place): The Third Buddha by Jameson Currier

I was a little afraid to read this novel due to the wrong assumption it was sad and full of angst; how could have not been? A brother who is searching for his lost relative among the ruins of the World Trade Center, a lover who is searching for his lost partner in the Afghanistan war zone, we are too used to the tragic news about these two events for me to expect something else. To add weight to my worries, on the first scene Teddy is having a one night stand with Stan, a foreign-service officer just back from Afghanistan where he practically abandoned his lover, Ali, despite the clear love of the boy, and above all, the big danger he is in.

But slowly, very slowly, I started to see glimpse of hope in the story of Teddy, Jim and Ari, and also Stan; first of all they are all connected together, Teddy is brother with Pup, who was lover of Ari, who is now partner of Jim, who is helped by Stan who has a one night stand with Teddy… it’s like the circle of life, but in the end it’s not so strange after all. The gay community of New York City is big but strictly interconnected and it’s not the first time I happen to meet, in different circumstances and different place and time, people who know each other. I always joke that when people know I live in Italy they ask me if I know someone living in Rome, when I live in a completely different city… but with the gay community of New York City is not so strange to ask that question, and often the answer is an affirming one. So it’s not strange that Ari, who lived in NYC, knew Pup, Teddy’s brother, and it’s not strange that Teddy, at a dinner night at Pup’s friends, meets Stan; it’s not strange that Teddy and Stan, even if they don’t know it, are connected through Ari and Jim.

What I was not expecting, and that I love of this novel, is that in the end, all of them will find the romance they are searching; sure there is no miracle in this story, the WTC was a real tragedy, and many common men become heroes and victims on the same day. But after the tragedy here it comes the romance, and who survived the pain of losing a dear one, after dealing with the aftermath, has the chance to have a some kind of happily ever after, maybe with a bittersweet aftertaste, but nevertheless with hope. Even for the one I had less prospects, Stan: he seemed a nice guy, during his night with Teddy, but the way he ran away with the tail between his legs leaving a desperate Ali waiting for him, when he had no intention to go back, well, he didn’t come out like a romance hero… but don’t get fooled, and wait until the end of the novel before condemning him.

The novel is highly emotional, and it’s not “easy”; don’t start it thinking to read a smushy romance with perfect heroes loving each other among the tragedy, Jameson Currier has never opted for the easy way. And even if he is telling a romance, be sure that between the lines he is also teaching you a lesson, and so with the romance you have also to accept, and welcome, the lesson: it’s a little price to pay to be a better reader.

http://www.chelseastationeditions.com/currier-third.html

Amazon: The Third Buddha
Amazon Kindle: The Third Buddha
Paperback: 328 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Station Editions; First edition (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984470727
ISBN-13: 978-0984470723



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