PULSES WITH VIVID,
AUTHENTIC SCENES
Review by Diane de la Paz, The Weekly Volcano, Nov. 1, 2007
“The Wives of Marty Winters” opens with a stunning
description of the Seattle Pride Day rally, where we meet Marty and
Selena and move with them through a harrowing scene.
(“Wives” is) a saga about how the past haunts a man
and how homophobia affects his family.
Marty and Selena’s gay son is attacked and brutally
beaten, but he survives, unlike Clayton’s own bisexual son, Bill, who
was assaulted in 1995 and committed suicide a month hence. Bill was 17.
... pulses with vivid, authentic scenes and delicious moments. The
story rolls like a train through Marty’s life
…
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Customer
reviews from amazon.com
4 out of 5 stars
By J. R. Callner "a cook"
I live in Olympia, WA, one of the venues for this novel. I read other
books set here (like Jim Lynch's The Highest Tide) with a little
apprehension, but both Lynch and Clayton's novels deliver the flavor of
the community in pleasing and authentic fashion. Wives is easy to read,
moves along with a collection of offbeat, imperfect characters rendered
with unsentimental affection by an author who delivers time and place
(and the changes of his characters through time) credibly and
immediately. If you'd like a return trip to high school, the hippie
days, and a journey through an unusual life somewhat accidentally lived,
wich quite a few laughs and some poignant loss, to boot, this is a great
bet.
3 out of 5 stars
By Anthony J. Adam
WIVES interweaves a number of 'coming out' stories into a portrait of
the development of a glbt sensibility amongst family and friends in
Washington State. Although the catalyst for the central plot is their
son's homosexuality and his personal development, the story is primarily
concerned with protagonist Marty Winters and how his life in particular
is changed, not entirely for the better, by a series of relationships
both before and during his marriage to gay rights activist Selena. A
subplot involving his friend Chloe and her own 'coming out' story
injects a bit of humor into what otherwise is a relatively tragic tale.
The writing is generally good, although the story lags at times, and
readers familiar with Clayton's earlier novels will find this one not as
tightly constructed. Part murder mystery and part family drama, WIVES
will be of interest to PFLAG families and others concerned with 'coming
out' issues, as well as anyone familiar with the Clayton's locales.
3 out of 5 stars
By L. E Johnson (Raleigh, NC United States)
Alec Clayton's third novel is not quite up to the overall impact of his
first, Until the Dawn, but it is filled with good characterization and
honest, vivid detail. A little too politically correct in places, it
nevertheless develops Marty's emotional and intellectual journey from
the 1960s to the present with admirable candor and sometimes luminous
humor. The novel confronts many of the social issues of the last 40
years, such as feminism, gay rights, and antiintellectualism with
insight and conciliation but never becomes didactic. There's uninhibited
sexuality here, as well as jealousy and emotional longing to sear the
imagination. I recommend this book, especially if you enjoyed Until the
Dawn.
4 out of 5 stars
By Van B. Cook "vbc" (Texas)
Although it contains its share of tragedy, the book is fun to read. By
the time I finished it, I felt that I knew the characters personally.
The author introduced them in a "Steinbeck" kind of way.
