Quill: A Novel in Two Parts - Softcover

Drinnan Neal

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140290990 ISBN 13: 9780140290998

Publisher: Penquin Books, 2000

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

As prickly and treacherous as its title, Australian author Drinnan's latest (after Pussy's Bow) piles on the melodrama in a sassy tale of spite, deceit and jealous love Down Under. Bestselling author Elliot Barnard has just published his novel Je Louse, which, according to his ex-lover Blaise, "weighed more than a corpse... heavier than an affair." Elliot's roman ? clef intricately and illicitly details his past relationship with Blaise, with barely any effort spent on altering the names of those involved. The spicy tome, which Drinnan runs parallel to his own narrative, reveals how Elliot and Blaise's relationship deteriorated through mistrust and sleazy infidelities. Blaise forces himself to read it covertly, risking the wrath of his new boyfriend, Woodie, who's also perusing it on the sly. The hidden secrets and disloyalties now laid bare infuriate them both, exposing the flaws of their relationship, and a remorseful, manipulative Elliot suddenly returns from his hideaway on Long Island and woos a reluctant Blaise one last time. The book's second section fast-forwards to find Elliot's mother, Rose, at his funeral after he dies of AIDS; compared to the campy backbiting of the book's first half, this downshifting seems too abrupt and may dispirit some readers. But the emotional pull of Elliot's life and death (told in flashbacks and reminiscences) paired with the love and attention of the friends who flock around him give new life to his character. These poignant scenes are convincing, while Drinnan's finale is both revelatory and apposite. Froth and hyperbole abound, and Drinnan descends once too often into stereotype, but the author's hardcore fans and those with a penchant for punchy Australian lingo will find all the commotion amusing. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Drinnan's first novel, Glove Puppet (1998), was a lively modern picaresque--the story of a lovable rogue, sorry but impenitent about all the lives he incidentally destroys as he follows his dream, which in this case was indistinguishable from his libido. Quill's protagonist, gay novelist Elliot Bernard, is roguish, too, but Drinnan focuses less on Elliot than on those he hurts--and loves. The novel's first part traces the reactions of Elliot's once (and future) lover Blaise and Blaise's rebound partner Woodrow to Elliot's novel Je Louse, a roman a clef about how Elliot lost Blaise to Woodrow. The second juxtaposes Elliot's mother's reflections about him during the reception after his funeral and moments from Elliot's last days, during which he rereads his memoirs for final corrections. The incidents and developments of both parts are much like those of the many previous gay love-on-the-rocks and AIDS-death stories, but Drinnan's characters are more credible and, although hardly deep thinkers, appealingly multivalent. Quill may lack Glove Puppet's pizzazz, but it is as deftly done. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Penquin Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140290990
• ISBN 13: 9780140290998
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204