The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse"Using the sonnet form throughout, and varying his language from lyrical elegance to timely vernacular, Seth's tale of four California Yuppies is as fully dimensional as a good novel, and twice as diverting. In this witty, compressed style, he gives us fully delineated characters: John, a Silicon Valley executive seeking solace in a meaningful amatory relationship; his friend and ex-lover Janet, an artist and musician in a raucous rock band; Liz, a vivacious Stanford law grad whose parents produce superior California wine; her brother Ed, floundering between sin and religion; and John's pal Phil, abandoned by his wife and left with his son, his moral vision and his scientific career at Lungless Labs, a scene of antinuclear protests and rallies. It is an engaging story of the pangs and passions of love, interlaced with serious ruminations on homosexuality and religion and on the future of the earth in the atomic age; and some comic sallies on feline behavior, bumper stickers, responses to "personals" ads, and other facets of the contemporary scene as refracted through the California lifestyle. The bard does not hesitate to interrupt his story from time to time, to explain a change in the course of events or to comment upon the structure of his narration, as he defends himself against critics who would accuse him of folly in writing an entire novel in the sonnet form. Inspired by "the marvelous swift meter of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin," Seth (From Heaven's Lake performs imaginative acrobatic jests, quips and puns, delivering his social commentary with spirit and verve."-- Publishers Weekly review. |
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Contents
The worlds discussed while friends are eating | 3 |
A cache of billetsdoux arrive | 24 |
A concert generates a meeting | 53 |
Copyright | |
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asks better bubble Memory Charlemagne Chuck Claire coffee Craven Cuff and Link dark dead dear Dorati dreams drink drives Ed's eyes face feel Ford Capri friends frowns goes guess hair half hand hate hear heart Heaven Lake hope iguana Jan's Janet Joan John says John stands John thinks John's joke Lamonts late leave life's light Liquid Sheep lives Liz says Liz's Lizzie Lungless Labs Matt meet mother night once pain Paul Paul's Peugeot Phil laughs Phil looks Phil says Phil's Philip Weiss play Printers Inc Rowena Schwarz Scrabble sighs sips sits sleep smiles someone stands star by star stares sure talk tears Thanks there's things thought tic-tac-toe tonight Tree of Heaven tries Trieste turns Tutankhamen VIKRAM SETH vineyard voice wait walk week What's who's Winery yuppie zinfandel