David Guy (1)

Jake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence
Jake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence
David Guy

I'll just put my biases up front: it was easy for me to like this book because it's about Boston, Buddhism, beer, and sex. If the author had thrown in a soccer game or a couple of hockey references and I might have called it The Best Book Ever Written.

Fuller disclosure: the author, David Guy, has been my friend and teacher. From him I learned about two practices, writing and meditation. For the last month I have show more been recommitting myself to my meditation practice, and I am amazed at the subtle but profound difference it makes in my life. David was my primary instructor when I sat regularly at the Chapel Hill Zen Center. This book he has written can give you a taste of the kind of teacher he is: clear, real, and insightful. He sees and is shaped by traditional Zen teachings and practices, but reveals them in modern American life. He also shapes a great story and writes terrific dialog, all with humor and no sentimentality. I did not want the book to end. David's teaching has deepened my life, and Jake Fades shows how. show less

I don't remember much about the book as a whole. It's largely biographies of people the author considers to have something important to say about the spirituality of sex: Walt Whitman, D.H. Lawrence, Alan Watt, Marco Vassi, Carol Queen, Juliet Carr, Joseph Kramer, Collin Brown and Selah Martha. The essay on Vassi absolutely blew me away. It's an incredibly powerful statement on the power and the dangers of the erotic. The essay on Walt Whitman introduced me to the concept of gay men's sexual show more genealogies. Carol Queen's chapter was also interesting though much more about her as a sex worker than as a gender queer. show less

This is a worthy attempt at psychological fiction in which the Buddhist outlook as a form of therapy, as well as a philosophy of life, is described and explored. The novel is well planned and structured. Readers seeking to learn how Buddhism translates itself into concrete day-to-day life experience will be rewarded. Some of the characterization seemed a bit thin at times but became more well rounded at the end.

Really good story. The author does a great job of building a thoughtful plot on zen principles.