By Samuel Park
[Alyson Books, 2006. 238 pages. $24.95 hardcover]
Reviewed by James Kinser
With a hint of E.M. Forster and a splash of Armistead Maupin, Samuel Park captures the raw, delicate, and passionate nature of a taboo relationship in Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Set in 1948 on the Harvard campus, this novel features the union of two unlikely partners.
Adam, an aspiring literary scholar from a wealthy family, has a robust, athletic physique, effortless intelligence, and an engagement to the perfect girl. He moves through life with ease until he is caught in a sexual act in a library bathroom. Risking expulsion, he refocuses his attention on his studies.
Jean, an independent spirit, wily and mischievous, convenes weekly with a group of followers who smoke and drink freely, listen to Cole Porter on the Victrola, and collectively venture to guess who in Hollywood might be “Uranian” (a euphemism for being gay). Comparatively, Jean’s habits and sense of entertainment fall decidedly more toward the fringe than Adam’s.
However, their paths intersect and increasingly intertwine as they become better acquainted in their literature class. One argues that the Sonnets were written by Shakespeare for a mysterious woman in black, while the other posits that they were composed for a secret male lover.
As the evidence for each argument amasses, so does the inevitable attraction and intimacy between the two. A palpable love story unfolds, in which each person must make choices that follow prescribed and predictable coda or those that follow the passions, desires, and will of the heart.
Akin to epic stories like Brokeback Mountain, Sonnets not only reveals the intricacies of navigating a same-sex relationship in a less-accepting era, it does so in a manner that is humorous, ironic, and applicable to the modern reader, straight or gay. For a read that slides like a knife through warm butter, pick up Shakespeare’s Sonnets and be prepared to read past your bedtime and risk missing train stops in the process (at least that was my experience).
