The National Book Award winning author returns to his original fictional territory-the lives of the dispossessed in San Francisco-with a parable about the limitations of desire and life at the margins of society
In such earlier works of fiction as
The Rainbow Stories and
The Royal Family William T. Vollmann wrote of pimps
prostitutes
addicts and homeless dreamers in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. In this new novel
Vollmann returns there with a story that centers around a woman with magical powers whom everyone loves
and who has to love them all back.
After being initiated into a coven of island witches
Neva begins to fulfill her fate in a Tenderloin dive bar. Her worshippers include Richard
the introverted
alcoholic
occasionally omniscient narrator; a profane
aggressive transgender sex worker named Shantelle; the brisk but motherly barmaid Francine; and the former Frank
who has renamed herself after her idol Judy Garland. When Judy starts to love Neva too much
Judy's retired policeman boyfriend embarks on a mission of exposure and destruction.
Crafted out of language by turns spiritual and sexually graphic
The Lucky Star aches with compassion as it explores celebrity culture
gender identity
incest
Christian sacrifice and
most of all
the quotidian and sometimes faltering heroism of marginalized people who in the face of humiliation and outright violence seek to love in their own way
and stand up for who they are.
Paylaş