I do not love poetry. I do not understand poetry. In almost all cases, I will avoid reading poetry. So, when my mother-in-law lent me an autobiography of an LDS female poet, Carol Pearson, whose marriage to a gay-man ended when he left her and the church to pursue a gay lifestyle but who she eventually cared for as he succumbed to AIDS, it took me a few months to work up the courage to read this book. While it does contain some of her poetry, which includes several things I've read before, it is mostly an easy to follow chronology of her life and how certain things came to be.
It moved me. Pearson, who obviously has a way with words, does a remarkable job evoking sympathy for a man who appears on the surface to be an undeserving of the emotion. Charismatic and full of life, Gerald Pearson is the man Carol falls in love with. When he tells her before they are married that he has had intimate relationships with men, she naively doesn't understand that he is gay. All I can say is that it was during the sixties and that lifestyle was obviously much less talked about and understood than it is today. She reasoned that he had sinned but had repented and by being married, all would be well.
A whole lot of heartbreak later, all is not well, but Carol finds within herself an ability to love Gerald as she believes Heavenly Father loves Gerald and while she never really accepts his lifestyle or approves of it, she always continues to love him.
Written in the eighties, when the AIDS epidemic was at its most terrifying moment, Goodbye, I Love You continues to be relevant as the struggle between the Gay and Lesbian movement and various religions of the world is under more and more scrutiny.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Book Review - Goodbye, I Love You
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3 comments:
I read this book soon after it was published - I must have been 12 or 13. It was pretty heavy for someone that young but I'm still glad. It shaped the way I thought and felt, well in time for the first of my brothers' coming out in 1992. You might be interested in CLP's much-later follow-up book about the Church and gay people, "No More Goodbyes."
I can't imagine reading something so complicated while that young, but then again, I didn't really have to. I thought of you while reading this and, as you can imagine, spent a good deal of time googling up Pearson and her life following the publication of this book.
Some of her choices I think have been helpful to bridge a challenging chasm between two lifestyles but sometimes, I think she might provoke other members of the church with some of her fringe theology (and I didn't say untrue, but since she doesn't hold any Keys, what can they be except her own ideas of truth). Still, I think she is amazing. Truly. I am interested to know how her kids turned out as this all happened when they were so young. I know one of her daughters also married a gay man who she then divorced (but, like her mother...accepts) and he is now acting in an off-broadway play about gay mormons. Maybe it all has to do with where she lives and her career, but what are the chances??
I would love to speak to you about it.
Funny, I just finished this book last week. I can't stop thinking about it and what an amazing person Carol Lynn Pearson must be, she truly seems Christ-like.
Hope all is well with your family and your new house!
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