E. Lynn Harris's blend of rich, romantic storytelling and controversial contemporary issues like race and bisexuality have found an enthusiastic and diverse audience across America. Readers celebrate the arrival in paperback of his second novel, Just As I Am , which picks up where Invisible Life left off, introducing Harris's appealing and authentic characters to a new set of joys, conflicts, and choices. Raymond, a young black lawyer from the South, struggles to come to terms with his sexuality and with the grim reality of AIDS. Nicole, an aspiring singer/actress, experiences frustration in both her career and in her attempts to find a genuine love relationship. Both characters share an eclectic group of friends who challenge them, and the reader, to look at themselves and the world around thern through different eyes. By portraying Nicole's and Raymond's joys, as well as their pain, Harris never ceases to remind us that life, like love, is about self-acceptance. In this vivid portrait of contemporary black life, with all its pressures and the complications of bisexuality, AIDS, and racism, Harris confirms a faith in the power of love -- love of all kinds -- to thrill and to heal, which will warm the hearts of readers everywhere.
**
Amazon.com Review
At the end of Invisible Life , Raymond and Nicole had just ended a blossoming love affair when Nicole found herself unable to cope with Raymond's bisexuality. Just As I Am begins soon after that, as the two former lovers try to rebuild their lives. Raymond has moved to Atlanta to practice law, and he continues to question whether he's genuinely bisexual or really gay, but is unable to accept that a real lifetime love might happen with anyone but a wife. (The reappearance of charismatic--and closeted--pro football player Basil Henderson doesn't exactly make things easier for him.) Nicole has agreed to marry her rich, white lover, who's bankrolling her latest Broadway effort, even though she's not sure she loves him. She and Raymond are reunited when their mutual best friend, Kyle, succumbs to his HIV infection and Raymond returns to New York City to be by his side. Over the years, E. Lynn Harris has proved himself a powerful male counterpart to the commercial success of African American authors like Terry McMillan; the turbulent plot of Just As I Am , with its relentless focus on characters' feelings, ably demonstrates how he's become so popular.
From Publishers Weekly
Set in a black upper-middle class milieu, this unappealing potboiler attempts to detail the lives and loves of an intersecting group of overachievers with a variety of sexual appetites. Harris ( Invisible Life ) has managed to capture the material aspects of the good life and the East Coast black gay scene, but he has also propped up his labored prose on a well-intentioned scaffold of gay activist issues. The result is more checklist than novel: when a character is introduced, a demographic stereotype is quickly outlined to elicit the reader's mechanical response. Successful, handsome and bisexual, African American sports lawyer Raymond Tyler Jr. has just moved to Atlanta from New York. But he's plagued by problems. His respected and politically active Alabama family think he's straight. He's hot for a supposedly hetero colleague at the law firm who seems to be coming on to him, but who fears being exposed. His newest client, a sexy star NFL quarterback and arrogant troublemaker, wants a little action too and doesn't mind embarrassing Tyler to get it. Meanwhile, Tyler's former lover, a New York actress, is dealing with a rich, pushy and cartoonishly possessive lover. Melodramatic and banal, this book is soap opera material. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
E. Lynn Harris's blend of rich, romantic storytelling and controversial contemporary issues like race and bisexuality have found an enthusiastic and diverse audience across America. Readers celebrate the arrival in paperback of his second novel, Just As I Am , which picks up where Invisible Life left off, introducing Harris's appealing and authentic characters to a new set of joys, conflicts, and choices. Raymond, a young black lawyer from the South, struggles to come to terms with his sexuality and with the grim reality of AIDS. Nicole, an aspiring singer/actress, experiences frustration in both her career and in her attempts to find a genuine love relationship. Both characters share an eclectic group of friends who challenge them, and the reader, to look at themselves and the world around thern through different eyes. By portraying Nicole's and Raymond's joys, as well as their pain, Harris never ceases to remind us that life, like love, is about self-acceptance. In this vivid portrait of contemporary black life, with all its pressures and the complications of bisexuality, AIDS, and racism, Harris confirms a faith in the power of love -- love of all kinds -- to thrill and to heal, which will warm the hearts of readers everywhere. **
Amazon.com Review
At the end of Invisible Life , Raymond and Nicole had just ended a blossoming love affair when Nicole found herself unable to cope with Raymond's bisexuality. Just As I Am begins soon after that, as the two former lovers try to rebuild their lives. Raymond has moved to Atlanta to practice law, and he continues to question whether he's genuinely bisexual or really gay, but is unable to accept that a real lifetime love might happen with anyone but a wife. (The reappearance of charismatic--and closeted--pro football player Basil Henderson doesn't exactly make things easier for him.) Nicole has agreed to marry her rich, white lover, who's bankrolling her latest Broadway effort, even though she's not sure she loves him. She and Raymond are reunited when their mutual best friend, Kyle, succumbs to his HIV infection and Raymond returns to New York City to be by his side. Over the years, E. Lynn Harris has proved himself a powerful male counterpart to the commercial success of African American authors like Terry McMillan; the turbulent plot of Just As I Am , with its relentless focus on characters' feelings, ably demonstrates how he's become so popular.
From Publishers Weekly
Set in a black upper-middle class milieu, this unappealing potboiler attempts to detail the lives and loves of an intersecting group of overachievers with a variety of sexual appetites. Harris ( Invisible Life ) has managed to capture the material aspects of the good life and the East Coast black gay scene, but he has also propped up his labored prose on a well-intentioned scaffold of gay activist issues. The result is more checklist than novel: when a character is introduced, a demographic stereotype is quickly outlined to elicit the reader's mechanical response. Successful, handsome and bisexual, African American sports lawyer Raymond Tyler Jr. has just moved to Atlanta from New York. But he's plagued by problems. His respected and politically active Alabama family think he's straight. He's hot for a supposedly hetero colleague at the law firm who seems to be coming on to him, but who fears being exposed. His newest client, a sexy star NFL quarterback and arrogant troublemaker, wants a little action too and doesn't mind embarrassing Tyler to get it. Meanwhile, Tyler's former lover, a New York actress, is dealing with a rich, pushy and cartoonishly possessive lover. Melodramatic and banal, this book is soap opera material. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.