The Sky Below

Sky Below by Stacey D'Erasmo

Rich in details, sentences spun as expertly as an artist's brush renders a masterpiece, this novel is a tale for the connoisseur of words. We live Gabriel life along side him; the painful departure of his father and subsequent loss of the mother he remembers as being so creative and attendant, who now must fend for him and his older sister. We endure his long wait for life to begin, for his coming of age that never materializes the way he expects it will. We hold witness to the thin line between reality and fantasy, sometimes unable to distinguish the differences. Gabriel, long into adulthood, holds onto an idea of the past, a world he's created in his mind, a world he can never seem to grasp, even as his show more moves mindless through real life situations and relationships. To me, more than anything, this novel explores the question "If you think something is true, does that make it real?" show less

D'Erasmo has captured the bleakly humid oppressiveness of Florida, and the double-life aspects of growing up gay. The narrator is not particularly likeable, but it is a testament to the author's skill that we remain fascinated by his unique voice. I have to admit to being somewhat confused by the ending...

Excellent. It works as story-telling as well as riffing on metaphor, Greco-Roman mythology, contemporary American culture, New York City . . .

Spanning almost an entire life, this is the tale of a boy who is traumatized by his fathers abandonment and his subsequent abandoment from his childhood home. He struggles throughout his life and yearns for comfort in the form of a dreamhouse (with a widows walk, does he hope his father will return?? ) He becomes sick with blood cancer and leaves his boyfriend and sister and goes to Mexico to look for his father, whom of course he never finds. He spends time in an ex convent and makes connections to people for perhaps the first time in his life. The city of New York is also a character in this book, and I loved the description of the people and places. The character was both frustrating and loveable, I found many of his actions to be show more very true. show less