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On the brink of forty, Chauncey Greer, the bisexual owner of a thriving card company in Atlanta, is inspired by a minister to pursue his old dream of a musical career, a career that had ended in scandal thanks to a teenage love affair with his fellow bandmate in a popular boy band, until he and other gay members of his church decide to take a stand against the church's homophobia.
From Publishers Weekly Harris takes a sympathetic look at the difficulty of reconciling homosexuality and faith in the black church in his lively ninth novel. Thirty-eight-year old Chauncey Greer classifies his heft sexual appetite as "basically bi with a gay leaning;" but also needs a personal relationship with God. Once a member of a boy band called Reunion (his deeply felt love affair with fellow bandmate Sweet D precipitated its breakup), Chauncey now owns a successful Atlanta-based greeting card company. Chauncey is a regular at the progressive Abundant Joy Baptist Church, where Pastor Kenneth's inspired preaching reignites his dreams of a singing career. After Chauncey sings a soul-stirring solo at church, the pastor invites him to perform at an upcoming revival led by the fundamentalist Bishop Upchurch and his vindictive wife Grayson. But Chauncey's friends plan to boycott the revival because of the Upchurches' gay-bashing, and Chauncey must decide between his passion for singing and his personal identity-a decision complicated by the reappearance of a figure from his past. Though supporting characters remain flat, Harris (A Love of My Own) illuminates a divide in the black church while exploring the universal theme of broken love.
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Anchor (August 21, 2007)
Language: English
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
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